It was a lovely day at de Bridge. SaraFerret was busy cleaning up
the cottage--what a mess de kits had made with their clay. Dis was a
never-ending job. All of a sudden she heard a knock at her door. She
went to open it and there stood Mimi, de little girl courier, with a
note in her paw. She said,

"SaraFerret, a ferret is crossing the bridge and it is most important
that you greet him and oh yes, he has a most unusual name. Is there
anything you want me to do?'

I took de note and read it and told Mimi what she needed to do and I
went to fetch some fuzzies for dere appointed duties. Den I headed for
de entrance. I was just in time to see a little white fuzzy wearing a
cowboy hat and a blue bandanna crossing de bridge. (So I yelled to the
group that were standing in the distance, "Hit it boys." Den I stepped
forward to introduce myself,

"Hi I am SaraFerret and I am de bridgegreeter. Welcome to de Rainbow
Bridge. Dis is your new forever home. Here you will have no more pain
or suffering. You will have lotsa friends and run on green meadows
forever. Did I mention de fun and games?"

De white fuzzy looked kinda puzzled at me and he said, "My name is
Jessie James and I belong to Mommy Kim. I got to feeling kinda sick a
few months ago and then I could no longer play. I used to dance all
the time. Mommy told me I would get to ride into the sunset now, but
I don't see no sunset here. How come I don't feel any better? And
why are those ferrets over there wearing cowboy hats singing, 'Yippee-
yi-ki-yay I'm an old cowhand from the Rio Grande?' That doesn't sense
to me."

"Well Jessie," I said. "I will try to answer your questions as best I
can. Its not sunset time yet, but if you are patient sunset will come.
As to feeling better, why that is easily handled."

And then POOF! Jessie instantly felt his body feel whole again; he
stretched his legs, and began to dance in time to de cowboy song,
faster and faster as only a weasel could dance, but finally he slowed
down and came back to me.

So I went on and answered his other question. "As to de fuzzies singing
de cowboy song--Well your Mommy must've had a sense of humor as she
named you after a famous human outlaw cowboy, named Jessie James. I
just decided to add a little whatcha call it atmosphere. With green
meadows and hills to remind you of your home. Were you really a thief,
Jessie?"

Jessie blushed clear to de tips of his white whiskers and said, "Well-
llll!!!!! Mommy would say I always took anything that wasn't tied down
like car keys or pop tarts or things like that. So I guess my brother,
Frank, and I were thieves of a sort. You aren't telling me stories
about the human Jessie James, are you?"

"No, for sure, I am not. When we get settled in later. I will tell you
things about how he became an outlaw and how he met his end and where
he is buried. Oh my Mommy told me things and she actually took me to
those places. Amazing how you can sneak a fuzzy in places in a front
pack. Did you bring anything from earth in your backpack?"

He kinda snickered and said, "well I hope Mommy won't miss these
things." He unzipped his backpack and took out--one key and a of course
one pop tart wrapper and a small cloth bag which he said contained a
small piece of Mommy's heart. Den he put them all back inside.

After all that, I asked him if he noticed de wings on my shoulders.
Well, he had, but didn't want to mention anything about them as he
thought maybe they were some sort of growth and he didn't want to be
rude. But I told him, "Jessie, dese are wings for flying about de
heavens. Sure beats hopping from cloud to cloud. And you are gonna get
your very own pair."

So off we went down de path to de Wing House where de wings were
stored. We opened de door and on de counter was a big box (of course).
He opened de box and took out de wings--Bright blue to match his
bandanna. I helped him put on his wings and set his halo atop his
cowboy hat. (He did look so cute). He ran to de big vanity mirror
and gazed at his reflection. Den he turned to me and said, "Gee I
wish Mommy could see me now." Den I gots an idea."

We opened de door and went down de path to de Misting Pond. We sat
down beside de cool clear water and with one swish we saw the vision
of Mommy Kim appear. Jessie James got so excited he started waving
and dooking with all of his might.

"Mommy, I love you so much. Thank you for loving me. SaraFerret says
that you mustve had a great sense of humor naming me and my brother
after two human outlaws. She gots the greatest kick outa it. Now that I
think of it, I can see why you named me Jessie. I hope you didn't need
the key I took. I just wanted to have something that reminded me of
home. I promise to visit you one day in your dreams. Oh yeah, if you
ever gets to visit the real-life home of the outlaw home of Jessie
James, think of me at the bridge."

Then he began to throw hugs and kisses and wrapped dem with all of his
love and laid dem on a nearby shooting star which was headed to your
house and by de time you should read dis it should have landed there.
And with another swish de vision was gone.

We went down de road and we were met by a group of fuzzies who were
riding stick horses and they greeted Jessie, "Welcome to the Bridge,
Jessie James, we has been waiting for you." Jessie remembered some of
them as friends who had crossed before him. So we went to his cottage
where food was laid out. Oh all de usual, sweet iced tea, ice cold
pepsi, squirt cheese and crackers, m&ms, chocolate ice cream, things
like that. And den I began to tell dem all de things I had heard about
de real-life Jessie James beginning with de Civil War and all of his
hold-ups and even his train robberies. They were open-mouthed. Finally
I finished with telling dem how he ended and even about de bullet hole
and about de big basket dey had carried his body out in and even his
casket and where he was buried. Jessie James Ferret was just amazed at
de stories. Really his Mommy had a sense of humor. Den I took Jessie
outside as I had promised. In de distance was de most beautiful sunset
we had ever witnessed. (Oh de Boss had indeed produced something
beautiful when He made sunsets). Dey all began to go back inside to
finish dere food, but I gave Jessie a hug and said my good-byes. He
was not an outlaw, just a fuzzy with a really different name.

So ended another day at de Rainbow Bridge.

Lovey and hugs,
SaraFerret, bridgegreeter

[Posted in FML 6312]