Hi, all-
 
I met a little girl coming across the Bridge, her name was Matilda.  What
a beautiful name!  She was a beautiful girl,and she chose to remain the
silvery color that she had known in her last few years in the World of
the Living, only better.  A true, pure silver, that sparkled in the
sunshine.  Even her whiskers were silver!
 
Well, I chatted with her for a little while, and I gave her her wings and
her hammie.  (Soft white wool, to contrast nicely with her coat.) I asked
her what she wanted to see or to do first, and she asked me if there were
any kits in the Afterworld.  I told her that there were indeed many kits
here, and that I was always looking for gentle souls to help take care of
them until they were re-united with their mommies.
 
She said that *her* Hoomin Mommy used to sing to her.  Did I think that
the kits would like it if she sang for them?  I knew that they would,
and I told her so.
 
I asked her to stash her wings and her hammie, and follow me to the
nearest Wild Black Footed Ferret camp, only a few minutes trot away
through the long grass.  There are always kits there!  The Wilds are
such good natured entertainers.  They love to laugh and play, and are
a natural with kits of all ages.
 
Sure enough, we found several dozen kits at the camp, laughing and
playing chase with each other while the Wilds kept an affectionate eye on
them, some even joining in the game themselves.  I called for attention
and asked the little ones if they wanted to hear a song.  Dozens of
little voices squeaked in the affirmative!
 
I introduced Matilda, and soon she was surrounded by a ring, several kits
deep.  She lay down in the middle of it, and then they lay down, too.
Matilda began her first song, and I'm afraid I can't really explain it to
you Hoomins, because it was in an animal language that your kind forgot
how to understand long, long ago.
 
It was a soft song about being alone, and then not being alone, and how
good it felt not to be alone anymore.  Maybe that sounds corny, but it
was a beautiful song, and halfway through it the kits and the Wilds
started to sing along with her, because it was a very simple song, too,
and that was part of its appeal.
 
Now Matilda sings for the Kits every afternoon after Third Nap.  In fact,
her soft, mellow voice sings most of them right into Fourth Nap!
 
I met another little girl coming across the Bridge.  Her name was Baby
Cakes, and she was born to fly.  That's what she told me, right after I
introduced myself, and she was re-united with her friend Cloud Dancer.
Baby Cakes wanted her wings right away.  No problem!
 
The three of us strapped our wings on, and lifted up one by one into the
bright blue sky.  Baby Cakes was the last to lift off, and let out a yell
when she was just a little bit off of the ground.  I thought that maybe
she had her wings on wrong, and the strap was pinching her, but no.
Cloud Dancer told me not to worry, that was the sound of pure joy!  And
it was.
 
Baby Cakes has got to be the *loudest* flyer that I have ever heard!  She
swoops through the sky, shouting "YIPPEE!" at top volume.  She yells, she
yowls, she even yodels like a Swiss mountainclimber!  She spins, she
spirals, she pivots, she drops like a stone and catches herself at the
last possible instant like a stunt plane!  Frankly, she scares the HECK
out of me!
 
That afternoon I learned that it is a lot easier to sit on the ground and
enjoy her skill from a distance, than it is to try to keep up with her.
In no time at all there was a crowd of us on the ground, marveling at her
daredevil antics with "oohs' and "ahhs!" And every now and then, a faint
"YIPEE!" could be heard on the breeze!
 
I met a little guy coming across the worn wooden planks of the Bridge.
His name was Snekers, and his Business of Spirit, Panda, and Raskil
waited for him with me.  He walked up to us and said "I feel...wonderful.
Wonderful!"
 
His Brother in Fur Spirit stepped forward and gently touched noses with
Snekers, and said "There are no sick cages, here, ever.  There aren't
even any cages!  There is no sick here!" Panda and Raskil stepped forward
and told Snekers the same things.  No vets!  No needles!
 
For a whils Snekers had trouble taking it all in, and I was afraid that
maybe he needed a little time in a Recovery Hammie.  I suggested it, but
then he seemed to rally, and seemed to shrug it off.  It *is* a lot to
take in, when your final illness is such that it seems all you know is
smelling sick, and having sickness in your fur, sickness in your bed.
 
Snekers relaxed quite a bit, and his whiskers really stopped drooping
when Spirit told him all about the Fruit Bar.  And the Ferretone
Fountain.  And Panda spoke up about the Sock Mountain, and the Tube Cube.
And Raskil said that was all nothing, what about the giant Red Sandstone
Canyon full of millions of fresh rolls of white toilet paper to shred?
By then, Snekers eyes were big and round.
 
"And when you're tired of that," said Spirit, "there's always the Plain
of Wastebaskets to tip over.  Thousands of them.  Millions of them!" That
was when Snekers lost it.  He trotted over to the Recovery Hammie and
hopped right up into it, muttering "Millions of them...millions of them!"
 
P.S. He tipped over one hundred and six of them that afternoon!
 
Sandee
[Posted in FML issue 4641]