It so happened, one day, that three otherwise rational humans were walking
along a wide and beautiful beach.  One was a cat fancier, another was a dog
person and the third was a lover of ferrets.  As they strolled together in
the afternoon sun, they each spied an ancient bottle as it was thrust upon
the shore by the restless sea.  After much tussling and the ungainly
tangling of many sets of limbs, they each managed to grasp the bottle at the
same time.
 
As they struggled with each other over sole possession of the treasued
bottle, a genie popped out of it and stood towering over them.
 
"Well now," the genie said.  "We seem to have a little problem here.  I can
only grant three wishes, so I suppose I'll have to give one wish to each of
you."
 
After considerable thought, which caused him great pain, the dog person
spoke up.
 
"Mr. Genie, Sir," he said, "For my wish, I wish that all the dogs and dog
people in the world could all go to one country, where we won't have to put
up with these snooty cat and ferret people."
 
"Granted." the genie said. POOF. The dog person disappeared.
 
The cat person thought for several moments before she made her wish.  She
knew what she wanted but was careful to state it in dignified terms.
 
"Well, now.  Since the dog lovers have their own country now, I think it
should be perfectly obvious that we cat lovers, and our cats, should have a
few countries of our own."
 
POOF. The cat lady vanished.
 
This left only the ferret guy, standing on the beach, gawking at the genie.
He was from Georgia, by the way, and no one had ever accused him of being a
rocket scientist.  He was, however, owned and loved by two ferrets and had
learned a great deal from them.
 
"Let me get this straight," he drawled.  "Those dog people and their
critters now have their own country and it ain't around here?"
 
"Correct," the genie replied.
 
"And them high falootin' cat folks and their crtitters got their own place
too and it ain't nowhere around here either?"
 
"That is also correct." The genie was beginning to become a little impatient.
 
"Well, heck," the ferret guy said, "In that case I guess I'll just have me a
Diet Coke."
 
 
SORRY - just couldn't resist. Joy to the World! Long live the FLO!
 
Paw Paw (;;-{)}~~
[Posted in FML issue 1495]