DOOKESBURY
 
Sitting in the darkness of the cardboard box, the young ferret could hear
the exchange between his human and the lady salesclerk.
 
"No, you don't understand.  If you don't take him I'll get rid of him MY
way!".  The ferret wasn't certain what his human meant by that, but he knew
he didn't like the sound of it.  His human referred to him as "The biter".
 
The lady said they would find him a home.  He felt the box being picked up.
A man said, "We can't put him in with the kits.  Put him in a cage in back.
We'll call a shelter later.
 
So here he was.  Back in the pet store he came from.  Except this time he
was alone in a cage in the store room.  Well, not really alone.  There were
plenty of other animals to talk with.  Hmmmph!  yeah, right.  If you can
understand birds squawking.
 
Ferret wasn't certain what he had done to deserve this.  Yeah, he was a
little rambunctious and nippy.  But, hey!  He was, after all, a ferret.
We do some mischievious things at times.  Well, maybe there was that one
little biting incident.
 
He remembered meeting the fuzzy-faced man that became his daddy.  As old
fuzzy-face opened the cage he said, "So, they got you in solitary, eh?".
Ferret remembered he started to shake.  Was it fear?  All he remembered was
reaching out and grabbing the mans finger in his mouth.  Not a bite.  Just
grabbing it.  He held it tight and looked at the man, thinking to himself,
"If you hurt me, I'll hurt you!".
 
The lady clerk told fuzzy-face what the man had said.  Fuzzy-face just
laughed and held the ferret tight.  Ferret was still shaking a bit.  But
the mans hands gave somehow gave him a feeling of comfort, of caring.
 
"Oh, damn!  Here we go again!" the ferret thought as he was lowered back
into a box.  "I really musta done it this time.  But what?  I didn't bite
him or nuthin'.".  He was really surprised when the box opened a short time
later.  He could see toys, food, sunshine.
 
Fuzzy-face was there with some other people.  Ferret was so happy he jumped
from the box and started dooking and running around.  He climbed up onto
another mans lap and started dooking.  "THIS is a biter?" the man asked
through laughter.  "Yeah", said fuzzy face, "that's what the pet store
said".
 
Ferret enjoyed his new home.  He enjoyed this life, well, except for his
name.  He had dooked around so much his new dad named him Dookesbury.
Dookesbury Fuzzbottom.  Well, it did give him a regal air.  After a while
he got to meet the other kids who lived there.
 
It had been a wonderful life for a ferret.  But Dooks began feeling sicker
then he ever thought he could.  Dad was there for him.  Feeding him,
holding him.  He had never seen the water come from daddys eyes until he
and the others got sick.  But even the tears, falling onto Dooks back,
felt warm and soothing.  Just as daddy holding him felt warm and soothing.
 
Dooks started to shed tears of his own.  Here he was now at the rainbow
Bridge.  Things were beautiful here.  He was so happy when reunited with
the others who had gone before.  But, something was missing.  The sunshine
reminded him of the warmth he felt when his dad had held him.  It brought a
certain sadness to him.
 
He was glad Lady told him of the Pool of Vision.  He could sit here and
watch his dad.  It brought back a lot of good memories.  Lady came up and
sat next to him.  "Why are you so sad?", she asked.
 
"I...never..got..a..chance..to....." Dooks was trying to say between sobs.
With a deep breath, he said "I never got a chance to say goodbye before I
left . . . or tell him that I love him !"
 
Lady held Dooks close to her.  "He knows.  He knows how much you love him,
you showed him every day.  Daddy will never forget the love you shared with
him".
[Posted in FML issue 2910]