"Hello?" Shiva questioned in the complete darkness all around her.
   "What do you want?" Came a reply.
   "Who are you?" Shiva asked.
   "Allow us to introduce ourselves," Came two voices at once, and suddenly
a brilliant light revealed a pair of rabbits, which were white with spots
all over them, like dalmations.  "Our names are Jack and Roger."
   "Wow," Shiva exclaimed.  "You live in this hole?"
   "Of course," They answered.  "Where else would you expect us to live?"
   "Where did you get that light?" Shiva asked, looking at the flashlight in
their hands.
   "Found it!"  Jack replied.  "We found a lot of neat stuff in the woods
one day."
   "Correct!" Roger added.  "Seems that these hunters were ransacked by some
weasels and their stuff got thrown all over the place.  So we scavenged it
 all."
   "We are ferrets," Shiva corrected him.  "Not weasels!"
   "So it was you then?" Jack asked.
   "Yes," Shiva confirmed.  "My sisters and brother are up there."  She
pointed to where she had fallen into the rabbit's den.
   "What are you ferrets doing in the forest?" Roger asked.
   "Yeah," Jack added.  "You look like city-types!  Your fur is too clean
and your nails are trimmed!"
   "Well," Shiva told them.  "We are here to get our crinkle sack.  Have you
seen it?"
   "Is it a big, light blue bag with roses and lace fringes on it?" Roger
questioned.
   "Yes!" Shiva shouted.  "Where is it?"
   "Um," Jack answered.  "Last time we saw it we were too busy running for
our lives!"
   "What do you mean?" Shiva wondered.
   "Well," Roger provided.  "These ugly, little gnomes came out of that sack
and started saying to each other that they wanted some rabbit stew, so we
ran away as fast as we could!"
   "Can you take us to it?" Shiva asked.
   "Sure," Jack stated.  "Do you need any help?"
   "Yes," Shiva said.  "We can use all the help we can get!  How do I get
out of this hole?"
   "Here," Roger replied.  "Let me give you a little push."
   "Yippee!" Shiva exclaimed as he pushed her hindquarters with all of his
might and jumped at the same time, sending her sailing out of the entrance
to the rabbit's home, into the outside world.
   "Shiva!" Rosie yelled.  "We thought we'd never see you again!  Who are
these two guys?"  She was referring to the two smiling faces that had leapt
out of the hole and were at Shiva's side.
   "These are my new friends, Jack and Roger!" Shiva informed her brother
and sisters.
   "Please to meet you," The bunnies said, dipping their handsome heads in a
graceful gesture.
 
             (to be continued...)
[Posted in FML issue 1960]