Greetings for Squeak

No. 421 had just settled down for a good nights sleep when there was a
tapping on the windowpane. There, on a branch, sat a Snowy Owl with a
ticket in his beak.

No. 421 jumped out of his nice warm bed and rushed to the door.

"What brings you here Owl," No. 421 said. "I thought you birds slept
all night?"

"We do," Owl said. "There was a crossing late tonight, and Blue bird
does not fly at night, so The Receiving Angel asked me to being this
ticket to you. Everyone else is asleep."

And with that, Owl turned and flew away. No. 421 was in his nightshirt
so he pulled his trousers over his shirttails and grabbing a lantern he
shook the house fireflies awake, loaded them into the lantern and left
for the Bridge.

He arrived just in time. A little ferret was bouncing over the Rainbow
Bridge and the Bridge was a swayin' to and fro.

"Whoa there," No. 421 said, "That Bridge has been around for ages and I
don't know how much rockin' it can take."

The little ferret stopped bouncing and slid to a stop right in front of
No. 421. She was carrying a cuddle-cup and looked awfully small next to
him.

Hello there," No. 421 said. "Who might you be and what is that you
have?"

"I'm Squeak," the little girl said. "I was feeling down and just curled
up for a nap in my cuddle cup. When I woke up, I was by a big gate and
an angel was calling my name. Where is this place anyway?"

"This is the Rainbow Bridge and I am a Bridge Greeter," No. 421 said.
"I'm here to help you find your family."

Little Squeak looked like she was going to cry. "Am I ever going to see
my Momma again?" she asked.

No. 421 took her little paw in his big one, and said she would.

"Some day, your Momma will come and collect you, and you will all be
together again," No. 421 said. "Now, it is very late. Lets get you
settled in tonight and we will find a mound for you to live in
tomorrow."

No. 421 did not want to leave Squeak out alone but he didn't know where
to take her. She bounced happily along holding his paw when all of a
sudden she stopped. She sniffed the air, and then she jumped up and
sniffed again.

"That smells like the gravy my Momma used to make for me," Squeak said.
"Oh, please, can we go and see?"

No 421 began to sniff the air. There it was again -- Boy that smelled
good.

"What did you call that stuff?"" No 421 said. "Gravy? What is gravy?"

Squeak bounced straight to a mound that had smoke coming out of the
chimney.

"Hello the mound," she called. "Anyone home?"

The door opened slowly and three heads came around the corner.

"Hi, No. 421," said one head. "Whatcha doing out so late?"

Cho, Hanky, and Bedlam stepped out on their porch and saw Squeak.

Hanky began to sniff the air. "Squeak -- you smell like our earthly
home." He said. "We lived with Wendy and Rex and a lot of other
ferrets. Boy you remind me so much of my old home."

"Wendy and Rex were my Mom and Dad," Squeak said. "And Momma made a
gravy that smelled just like what ever you are cooking."

"This is my Momma's gravy," Hanky said. "We couldn't sleep tonight, so
I got up and made us some gravy. Hey, are you our sister? Come on in
and sit down, it is too cold to stand out here and I think our midnight
snack is about ready. We need to talk."

Squeak and No. 421 went in and sat down. Hanky served up steaming bowls
of Wendy's gravy. No. 421 could not get over how good it was. He made
up his mind to get the recipe and make some at home. Squeak and her
family were catching up of all the news when No. 421 said they had to
get home.

Bedlam told No. 421 they had a spare room Squeak could have and they
would like to have her there to help run the mound. Clo piled the
dishes in the sink and No. 421 said he was happy Squeak was going to be
with family. He said he would come back and see her tomorrow as Hanky
gave him the recipe. Squeak told No. 421 to send back a message to
Wendy that she was with family and would be doing fine.

No. 421 dropped the message off at Gentle Breezes' home where she
would be sure to find it, and went down the path to his cabin. Oliver
was snoring while No. 421 wrote in his logbook, Mission accomplished.
Squeak found family from a while ago, and she will be waiting here with
them for Wendy and Rex. No. 421 closed the book, let the fireflies out
of the lantern and climbed into bed for the second time tonight. He
licked that last of the gravy off of his whiskers and went to sleep.

[Posted in FML 6574]