"I love this place" Musty Pete said aloud in an empty meadow.  Pete often
takes long solitary walks through The Meadows and The Great Woods that
surround the Rainbow Bridge community.  He sometimes enjoys a long, lazy
afternoon nap in the tall meadow grasses, day dreaming about his one true
love, Fancy Ferret.  Pete misses Fancy so much and waits for the day when
Fancy will cross the Rainbow Bridge and join him.

As Musty Pete wanders, traveling to no particular destination, he
realizes he is not as alone as he thought.  From the corner of his eye
he sees a younger ferret ducking behind a stand of small oaks, trying not
to be noticed.  Pete walks on for a bit and keeps track of the character
who is following him, until he reaches the Gathering Place, which is a
large clearing in The Great Woods that is used for community meetings
and special events.

Musty Pete asks, "Why are you following me young fert?"

There is no response from behind the tree.

Pete says, "Are you going to make me come over there or are you coming
out from behind that tree?"

A cute little nose peeks out, and a voice asks, "Are you Mr. Pete?"

Pete answers, "Yes, I am Musty Pete.  What can I do for you today?"

The younger ferret slowly emerges from his cover and approaches Pete.
"Well, I have heard that my good friend Cinni has come here and I haven't
seen him yet, I am wondering if you could help me find him."

"Hmm-mmm" Pete rubs his whiskered chin and thinks for a moment, "I seem
to remember hearing of a ferret that arrived recently, a boy ferret named
Cinni." I believe he is staying at the home of Francis Ferret, she helps
the fuzzies who arrive and have difficulty making the transition to our
community from their Earthly homes.  "Would you like to walk with me to
Francis' cottage?" Pete asked the youngster.  "By the way, what is your
name young man?" The younger ferret looked up at Pete and said

"Oh!  My name is Dexter, but you can call me Dex, everyone does."

Pete and Dexter headed off to visit Francis Ferret's cottage on the other
side of The Great Woods.

Pete continued talking as he and Dexter walked towards Francis' home, "So
Dexter, I have seen you around, how long have you been here?"

Dexter replied, "I guess it's been a few years, I like the night time
better than days, so I sleep a lot and stay up at night.  I have been
waiting quite a while for Cinni and Slinky to join me here."

Pete pointed ahead of them along the well worn path and said "This is
Francis' cottage, let's go see if your friend is here."

They walked to the door and Musty Pete knocked loudly with his big paw.

"Who is it?" came a lady's voice from inside.

"Hello Francis?  It's me, Musty Pete.  I brought a friend with me, he'd
like to meet you."

"Oh, Do come in" said Francis as she opened the door.

Francis loved the color purple and almost everything in her purple
cottage was a shade of lavender or plum.

"Wow!!" said Dexter, "Do you like the color purple, Ms. Francis??"

She nodded and said, "It is my favorite.  Pete?  Why don't you
introduce us."

Pete gestured to his new friend and said, "Certainly!  This is Dexter.
He is trying to find his friend Cinni.  I told him I thought Cinni might
be staying here with you."

Francis replied, "Well, Cinni was here with me, but he moved over to the
Newbie Dormitories a few days ago as I was told by Mr. Big that I would
soon have a new 'client' to work with.  A new arrival named Slinky."

At the mention of Slinky's name, Dexter's ears perked up.  "Slinky is
coming here too?  Oh My!  Now I really do need to find Cinni!"

Dexter extended a paw to Ms. Francis and said "It was very nice to meet
you, but I must be going now.  I have to go find Cinni before Slinky gets
here." He looked up at Pete and asked "Will you come with me Mr. Pete?"

"Oh!  Sure Dexter, I'll come along" said Pete.  And they bid farewell to
Francis and started the long walk back to the Newbie Dormitories.  Dexter
ran so fast, Pete found himself out of breath trying to keep up.

When they arrived at the newbie's quarters, it didn't take Dex very long
to find Cinni.  Dexter spotted Cinni napping in a hammock suspended from
a very large shady oak.  He ran up on Cinni so fast the hammock spun
around and deposited Cinni on the ground with a thud, which made Cinni
mad and made Dexter laugh!

When Cinni got back on his feet, he looked up, and in great surprise
yelled, "DEXTER???!!" They hugged and ran circles around one another, so
happy to be reunited.  Out of breath, they tumbled to the soft grass,
rolling and laughing.

Dexter then told Cinni that Slinky would also be joining them.  Dexter &
Cinni crawled into the hammock and groomed one another, chattering
noisily,

Pete excused himself, as he had new bridge business to attend to.
[Posted in FML issue 5260]