Hi, all-
 
I met a little guy coming across the Bridge the other day.  Well, he
wasn't that little.  Actually, he was kind of a hunk!  All the nearby
jills were watching him out of the corners of their eyes.  He was long,
dark, and handsome.  His name was Max the Chomp.  He came across the
Bridge calmly, sniffing his way along, very curious!
 
Max had his Business waiting for him, Makai and Salena.  The three of
them spent some time bringing one another up to date, and exchanging a
little gossip.  They had lovely things to say about their daddy, Tim!
 
Well, Max told me about a place he'd been dreaming of during his final
illness.  I helped him strap on his new wings, and off we went!  We flew
over green, grassy fields and dark forest.  We kept the high mountains on
our left, and flew until we could smell the salty tang of the sea in the
air.  Finally we could see it, blue and green and flickering bright in
the sun, coming up over the edge of our world.
 
We glided down to the beach, fighting the off shore breeze all of the
way.  It was actually a pretty tricky piece of flying, but Max handled
it very well.  He landed a little hard, but fortunately sand is a pretty
forgiving landing surface.
 
We took off our wings and strapped them around the thin trunk of a
mangrove tree, there by the water's edge.  It wouldn't do to let them
blow away in the breeze!
 
Max launched himself toward the pinkish granite rocks jutting from the
surf with a cry of pure delight.  I was not far behind.  There were wet,
slippery rocks to scramble up and down and around on!  Green and brown
ribbons of kelp to nibble!  Things to sniff!  Smashed crabs and little
chalky black-shelled snails stranded above the tide to lick!  Shallow
tide pools with sandy bottoms and schools of tiny fish to snorkel in and
splash through!  Oh, it was a wonderful place!
 
We spent perhaps an hour there until we became too warm to be comfortable
anymore.  There was crusty salt in our fur!
 
We walked back to the mangrove thicket and retrieved our wings.  Then, we
flew all the way to the Fruit Bar.  There is a cold, clear, freshwater
spring right near it, surrounded by a ring of cat tails and wild purple
flag irises.  We didn't just drink the sweet, refreshing water, we dove
into it and paddled around, trying to get the salt out of our coats.
 
We emerged, dripping, and rolled on the grass frantically, to dry
ourselves in the sun.
 
Then, without saying a word, Max fixed his gaze on the nearby Fruit Bar.
His head then turned, and his eyes met mine.  I could smell the sweet
scent of honeydew Melon and fresh prunes.  The race was on!
 
Afterwards, as we lay on the grass watching that day's sun set, our
bellies round and full, Max commented that he thought he was really
going to like this place!  You know, I hear a lot of that.
 
Sandee
[Posted in FML issue 4395]