When we left off yesterday...It was a springtime night in New England.
The air was sweet, and soft against your cheek.  Look up, and you could
see the lacy silhouette of maple flowers against a full moon.  In the
distance, you could hear those tiny frogs with the mighty voices, the
Spring Peepers, singing their songs of love in the gritty, cold mud.
 
Ping, with a mighty stretch, had just barely managed to catch the
tractor's steering wheel in one paw, while using the other to steady
himself in the seat as the tractor steadily tipped in the direction of
the house.  France, the 'Fricken Pigmy Hedgehog, cocooned in the blue
knitted skimask,was beginning to slide freely across the surface of
the lightly padded seat, and that was just TERRIBLE, as Miss Lily was
hanging by her tail from France's mouth!
 
There was no other option.  Steering away from the rapidly approaching
roof of the house with one paw, Ping is He reached out blindly with the
other and snagged the empty eyehole of the blue knitted skimask, ending
France and Miss Lily's slide into doom.  "Dude!  They're heavy!", he
thought, as they swung back up into the seat with a pendulum action.
 
France landed with an "Oof", which allowed Lily to remove her much abused
tail from the Hedgehog's mouth.  Miss Lily spared a few seconds to glare
at the Hog, bent to smooth her tail fur, gathered her crocheted blankie
robe about herself, then moved to stand beside Ping, as the tractor rose
further and further into the sweet night air.  The roofs of all the
houses in the neighbourhood were now clearly visible below as pale
rectangles of assorted varieties.
 
Miss Lily turned, and 'Hee'd a series of instructions for operating the
clutch into Ping's ear.  He jumped down, and pushed hard against the
cold metal lever at her nodded command.  It gave beneath his weight, just
as she slipped the gearshift into one of the forward gears.  They were
really doing it now, really flying!  Ping could see all of the houses
below, of course, and all of the yards and streets,the street lights, the
glow of the moon on all of the car hoods...and off to the left, oh, it
was so beautiful...so big...the lake.  And just above it, the moon.  Just
below it, another full moon, trapped in the lake...both of them a pale
yellow...so beautiful!
 
Even France condescended to look out of the eyehole of the blue knit
skimask.
 
As beautiful as that sight was, Ping was suddenly troubled by a thought,
a thought that was inconsistent with his happy go lucky guy nature...one
he was driven to ask Miss Lily.  "Um...Ma'am...if 'U' is up, where is the
'D' for down?"  Miss Lily just smiled, (the smile that showed a hint of
fang at the corners), wrapped her blankie more tightly around herself,
and said "Hee-heee!", then ground the gearshift forward into fifth!
[Posted in FML issue 4864]