Hi, all.  This is Sandee.  This is a tuesday 'Rain Date' post, but I
expect to post on my usual monday next week.
 
****************************************************************
 
I met a little guy coming across the Bridge.  His name was Sam, and oh,
did he have the most beautiful chocolate coat!  He looked like he was
dipped in it.  Well, his paws and tail and front legs and bib were more
like dark chocolate, but the rest of him was just one big chunk of milk
chocolate.  It all went so well with his eyes...(Shaking myself***Gotta
be professional!)
 
Sam didn't have his own Business, but he had some in-laws through his
Hoomins Chuck and Karen's friends.  Their names were Farris and Paco,
and they seemed to be solid guys.  (Solid.  Muscle.)
 
Well, Sam came calmly, and took careful steps across, sniffing the air as
he went along.  I walked up to him and introduced myself, and explained
what had happened.  He wasn't surprised, he said that he had been
dreaming of the Bridge for a while, and he was ready to move on to his
new Forever forever home.  I introduced him to Farris and Paco, and they
said they'd be happy to help him get his bearings.  (That's what he
looked like, a carved chocolate bear***Gotta get ahold of myself, it IS
spring, you know...A girl can't help but notice these...three gorgeous
guys.)
 
Well, we all strapped on our wings and lifted off one at a time for the
first stop on the Farris and Paco tour, The Tube Pile!  This should not
be confused with the Tube Cube.  The Tube *pile* is a mound of brown
and white cardboard tubes, the kind you find in the middle of rolls of
Christmas wrapping paper, only they were ALL big enough to scramble
through.  Some are only two or three feet long.  Others are much
sturdier, and seven or eight feet long.  They're more...industrial,
you know?  Imagine a pile of them about the size of a suburban ranch
house, and you'll get an idea of what we were looking at.
 
Tuuuuuubes!  I love tubes!  I love that dusty cardboard smell!  I love
the scritching noise my claws make when I scramble through them!  We
attacked that pile with gusto, and played for *hours*!  Running, backing
up, turning around inside, climbing higher to new ones.  It was
wonderful!
 
We paused to rest, and Sam told me a little bit about his Hoomins.  They
were generous with tube time, and Sam was really greatful.  (Of course
his tubes were much more modest than these!) Still, he was a lucky ferret
and he knew it.  He'd had a few Hoomins, but Chuck and Karen were the
best of the bunch.  Some day, a long time from now, he says he is going
to bring them to the field full of Recliners, so that they can rest after
all of the chasing after him that they did!
 
I met a little girl coming across the Bridge, too.  Not so little, she
lived a long life.  Like any long life, it had it's seasons.  Some rich,
some spare.  Her name was Grandma Sweetie, but she just answered to
Sweetie.
 
Sweetie's sister Moxie was waiting for her with me.  She was so excited!
The two sisters touched noses and sniffed each other, then rubbed flanks
and even did a few war dance hops.
 
Yes, Sweetie's life had had some very spare seasons.  She had been
through some harrowing times in a far away place called Utah, but she
was ready to put that all behind her now, and start over again.  It
was spring, and she said that she felt like spring inside.  Sweetie
and Moxie wanted to see some spring flowers first off.
 
Well, that was easy!  There is always some part of the Afterworld that is
spring, just as all the other seasons are represented.  I think it would
confuse Hoomins a lot.  (Their sense of smell is so terrible anyway, I
can't imagine why they are not lost all of the time.)
 
I started walking to the east, toward the sun, and the ladies followed
me, behind a little bit, chatting.  They had nothing but nice things to
say about someone named 'Benita'.  A hoomin, I bet.  One of the really
good ones too, from the sound of it.
 
Off in the distance was a solid line of pink.  It looked just like a
broad brush stroke on a canvas.  We walked closer through the soft
grass, and then we could see a line of white, too.  Then purple.  Then
yellow.Then blue.  The most delicious smell came to us on the breeze, the
smell of hyacinths.  Each stripe was a solid block of hyacinths planted
along the banks of a river.  A slow, gentle one that was good to wade in
on hot days.
 
Finally, we came to the vast patch of pink hyacinths, and then we
shouldered our way inside.  They weren't much taller than we were, so
it was almost like being lost inside a perfumed forrest!  (The trick is
to always know where the river is.)
 
It is a wonderous thing to wander amongst the hyacinths.  The little
blossoms are almost rubbery, and most of them have a dab of dusty pollen
inside.  It gets on your fur, it gets on your whiskers, it gets *into*
your paws between your toes!  The leaves are smooth, and don't rasp
against your nose like some long grasses.  We pushed our way between
the stalks, laughing.  Now *this* was seeing some spring flowers!
 
A little bit up ahead, I can see the white ones.  I think I will dare the
ladies to race!
 
Sandee
[Posted in FML issue 4495]