The weather had turned very cold at the Bridge and No. 421 and Oliver
had been spending a lot of time in front of their fireplace. Oliver had
tried to snowcloud, but the brisk wind took his breath away. The two
friends were just spending a quiet afternoon eating raisins dipped in
ferretone, when there was a flutter of wings and bluebird was tapping
at the door.

"Let me in", she chirped. "It's cold out here. No. 421, I has a ticket
her from de Boss. Seems a fuzzy passed and there was no one to greet
him. His Mom Cara had asked for a greeting, but his ticket was somehow
lost. Anyway, de Boss is asking if you could go to the Bridge and greet
him. He be livin' at Skye's B&B and frankly, he is working right along
with Skye to add a few rooms to the house. He is doing a wonderful job
too."

No. 421 pulled himself away from the fire, told Oliver to be sure to
fill the wood box for the night. Then he pulled on his coat and went
out into the chill. Oliver put on a sweater and dashed out to the
woodpile. He had just loaded up his arm when he heard someone whisper.

"Pst pst," the voice said. "Are you Oliver? I heard de Boss talking
to the Receiving Angel and He said you were going to greet me. What's
a greeting? Can you eat it?"

Oliver nearly dropped his wood. "Who are you?" he asked. "What are you
doing in my woodpile? Come on inside, it's cold out here."

Once inside, Oliver turned to the ferret and asked him his name.

"My name is Monster," he said. "I was living with my Mom Cara and I got
real sick. I hated my medicine. She was very food to me, but I finally
decided to just let go. Then, I woke up here, with no one anywhere.
There was a big man with white wings, with a piece of paper. I wanted
to do a paw print letter to my Mom, so I took it when he was not
looking. I followed a fuzzy that was met by someone and stopped to see
where I was and got lost. So, what am I going to do now?"

"Your Monster," Oliver said? "Oh my, No. 421 just went up to the Bridge
to greet you. Wait until her finds out you are gone and I have you
here. Hey, are you hungry? Would you like some supper?"

Monster said he would like something to eat so Oliver heated up some of
the leftover raisin stew they had last night for supper. Monster ate
the whole bowl. Oliver gave him a second and Monster just managed to
finish it up when No. 421 came in the door.

Hi feller," No. 421 said. "Oliver, do you still have that duplicate
ticket? I could not find Monster anywhere. The Receiving Angel is all
upset, and we have to tell the Boss we lost a ferret. I'm so upset.
Skye said they were working together this morning when another fuzzy
crossed. Monster told Skye he thought he knew him from somewhere. The
Receiving Angel still could not find Monster's ticket so he decided he
would have to go ask the Boss for another one and he hated to do that."

The new ferret was just looking at No. 421. "Scuse me, are you looking
for Monster?" he asked. "That is my name, and I was helping Skye build
a room when I decided to follow another fuzzy and see what this place
looked like, I did not mean to cause any harm, or upset anyone."

"Oh oh," No. 421 said. "Come with me, we need to go see The Receiving
Angel and get this straightened out. Oliver, come along this time, I
may need you."

The three ferrets arrived at the gate and The Receiving Angel was still
turning everything over and looking under his desk for the umteenth
time.

"Hello Mr. Angel," Monster said. "I'm Monster, the ferret you are
looking for. I arrived alone, you fixed me a ticket, and I wanted to
write my Mom a note saying I arrived here. I'm sorry, I used this
paper, but then, I didn't know what to do with it. So I put it in
my pocket, and I guess I should give it back to you."

The Receiving Angel looked relieved. "Thank you, oh thank you, young
fella," he said. "I'm so glad you're here. I'll send Bluebird to tell
the Boss I have it all straightened out. Now, I've been over to see the
work you were doing with Skye, and I have an idea. You could stay here
until you build your own mound, then hire out to help fuzzy's that do
not have your building skills."

"I'd like that Mr. Receiving Angel," he said. "If you don't mind, I'm
kinda tired now. Do you think you could get a message to my Mom I'm
here, and I will wait for her? Then, can I go to bed in my hammy at
Skye's?"

"I think we can manage that," No. 421 said. "You go to bed now, and
Oliver and I will drop by Shooting Stars home and give her the message.
She will go with Gentle Breeze and deliver the message to your mom.
Gentle Breeze will brush a kiss on her cheek for you the next time she
is outside."

Oliver and No. 421 went down the path to the Bridge. Shooting Star
lived just a little ways past the Bridge, and No. 421 wanted to leave
the note with the instructions to see The Receiving Angel for
directions to Monster's home.

The two friends hurried home, their fire was going down, and Oliver
was getting hungry himself. No. 421 took down his logbook and wrote;
Mission Accomplished. We found Monster, sent a message home, and he
will be helping other ferrets build more mounds for the newcomers.

Oliver was heating up the last of the soup, and the two friends sat
down to enjoy a well-deserved rest. Both were very tired and fell
asleep listening to the fire crackle as soon as supper was over.

[Posted in FML 6957]