Hi, all.
 
Well, the most unusual thing happened.  I've known for some time that
SaraFerret was feeling tired and kind of worn out, but I didn't know what
to do about it.  I did NOT make her wear that safari outfit, it was just
a suggestion I made once to help her look more professional because her
head was kind of ...small and ...not right...anyway, I found the outfit
folded up carefully with a note tucked into the headband of that toppee
hat right beneath the always flowering lilac.  It was purple that day.
 
The note said that she and her good friend Hermionie were going to go
up north where the ermine lived, and she didn't know when they would be
back.
 
Hermionie?  I barely knew Hermionie, but I know that she and SaraFerret
were good friends.  I remember Greeting Hermionie recently when she came
across the Bridge.  She had a huge Business!  Her Brothers in Fur Albus
Dumbledore, Mr. Fuzzy Wuzzy, Harry, Ralph, Cinderella, Prince Charming,
Simon, Roxanne, Petunia, Daisy, Clover, Lunessa, and Merlin all waited
with me as she made her way across, which she did with no fear or
hesitation.
 
SaraFerret was there that day, and she and Hermionie found out that they
had something in common.  Hermionie had a gentle nature, but she was an
ankle nipper.  SaraFerret was a plain old biter, forget nipper!  But it
did give them something to talk about.  Soon they were fast friends,
attending many racous Black Footed Ferret parties together.  Many was
the time that I saw them from a distance, lapping from the same spilled
puddle of beer at one of those all night parties!
 
Well, they are gone now.  Have they gone polecat?  That is, reverted back
to being feral ferrets, become truly wild?  That does happen from time to
time, but not usually to us domesticated folk unless we have been very
badly treated indeed, and a safari outfit doesn't begin to count!  I am
wildly curious, everyone is, but we don't want to be rude and follow
them.
 
Hermionie's good friend Albus Dumbledore says that we should just wait
and see what happens.  If they come back, they come back, and we will be
greatful to have them with us again.  If they don't, well, then we will
still be greatful, greatful to have had them in our lives.
 
Albus is very wise.
 
In the meantime, amidst all the gossip and wonder, there has been work
to do.
 
I met a little girl named Baby coming across the Bridge.  She was very
frightened, not at all sure that she wasn't traveling from a bad place to
a worse place.  I nudged her gently into a recovery hammie, and she told
me about a memory she had of a kind hoomin, the only really kind hoomin
she ever met, who held her in her hands gently, and told her about the
Raindbow Bridge in a soft voice.  Baby wanted to know, was this the good
place?  Had the woman been real?
 
I assured her that yes, the woman had been real, and this place was real,
and it was her forever, Forever Home, and that the Bad Hoomins who
neglected her could never find her again.  But some day, a long time from
today, she could see the woman again if she wanted, and thank her for
holding her in her hands, and stroking her fur, and trying to tell her
about the Bridge.  It was all the woman, Linda, could do.  Baby had been
too deeply neglected by the Bad Hoomins.  Linda could not save her life,
only comfort her as her life left her.
 
Baby and I sat quietly, side by side in the recovery hammie for a long
time while she thought about what I had said.  I could feel her body
relax bit by bit.  The sun wheeled overhead in it's course.
 
Finally Baby spoke.  "This is my forever, Forever Home?"  I assured her
that it was, and that the Big Boss loved each and every one of us.  She
said "Then why did he leave me with the Bad Hoomins for so long?"  I said
that I didn't know.  She could ask, but it wasn't in his nature to answer
our questions with anything other than "Yes, no, or maybe."  I thought
that maybe his long answers might hurt our heads because they were too
hard for us to understand.
 
That made her quiet for a long time, too.  "He did give you Linda, and
that's a very complicated answer", I said.  "It is", she replied.  Baby
lifted her head and said "Does Linda know why?" The sun sparkled on her
whiskers.  I dropped my own head in deep thought, and I was quiet for a
long time.  Finally I said "I'll bet Linda is hoping that you know."
 
Well, that got a little smile, at long last. And the healing began.
 
I met a little guy named Tigger coming across the Bridge.  Tigger had
spent the last year of his life in the company of an excellent Mommy,
Karen, who took good care of him.  She understood that he liked
sleepsacks, not hammies, and that he had a need to torment cats.
 
Well, here in the Afterworld we are not allowed to torment *actual* cats,
but we do have the next best thing.  We have a place that is like a video
arcade.  We call it the Virtual Cat Bother.  There you can torment a
cunningly real holographic cat in a private booth.  You can bite the cat
in the softest meat of it's leg when it tries to nap, you can nip at it's
tail, you can wardance behind it and scare the fur right off of it's back
if you like!  And it smells just like the real thing, too!  The fun can
last for hours and hours if that's what you want.  You can torment one
particular cat, or many, it's up to you.
 
I don't particularly care for the Virtual Cat Bother, but I was more than
happy to bring Tigger there and show him the ropes.  Once He got his
bearings, I left him to his pleasure.  I understand that he is an every
day visitor!
 
I met a littl guy named Freddy coming across the Bridge.  His sister
Peanut and his brother Scooter stood with me to greet him.  They had a
very energetic reunion!  There was lots of popping and dooking and
wardancing!  Tails frizzed up like bottlebrushes!
 
Evidently, Freddy was upset about accidently leaving a toy behind in the
World of the Living, a red rubber spider.  No problem!  The four of us
strapped our wings on and we lifted off, one by one into the fresh air.
We flew a short distance to the Mountain of Rubber Bugs, a *very* popular
place, because here in the Afterworld, there is no such thing as an
intestinal blockage!  Rubber is our friend!
 
There were wiggly rubber snakes (true, they are not bugs, but they
somehow wind up here), shiny brown rubber cockroaches, leggy rubber ants
by the thousands, fluttery bats with little gargoyle faces (ditto not
bugs, but gotta go somewhere!)golw in the dark beetles, slippery worms by
the bucketfull...and, of course, spiders.  Smooth ones, jumping spiders,
colorful tarantulas, hairy legged ones...and red rubber ones, just like
Freddy pined for.
 
Freddy spent the rest of the day dragging his spider behind him.  It
wouldn't surprise me a bit if he's still got it by a leg!
 
More tomorrow
 
Sandee
[Posted in FML issue 4571]