A feather-light dark sable ferret awoke from a deep winter's dream to
find herself at the end of a long striped narrow expanse. It took her
tired mind a few moments to put a name to this location, different from
where she had lain to doze, and even longer for her to rise on her old
bird bones, but she soon began her crossing of the Rainbow Bridge. For
every pawstep Holly placed toward her destination, her fur grew in more
glossy and long over bare patches of skin, her muscles moved supple and
strong, where tissue had since wasted away. The years fell behind her,
as did any lingering pain and suffering.

All the memories Holly need carry across to be with the ferrets gone
before were of love and trust, hope and happiness, of the humans who
paved her path to play and dreams, and of the ferrets she claimed as
her family along life's journey. She put down the burden of having been
a DMK breeder living in deplorable conditions. She put down the burden
of later protecting a blind cagemate against abuse. Just as Holly
reached half-way along the Bridge's arching length and was ready to
release her burdens of assuming harm would come from anyone new whom
she met and the knowledge that she rewarded kindness with violence on
many occasions, Holly came to a sudden halt. She fluffed up her fur in
surprise and trepidation. A large ferret waited there, unhappy and
alone. Holly knew him of old, and their history was not that which
she remembered fondly.

He wasn't rushing for her. Holly began to doubt her senses and wondered
if perhaps this ferret was a creation of her imagination, until Rhys
asked, "Hows is she?"

"Whats?" Holly bounced with sudden alarm, as the figment of her
imagination resolved into her longtime nemesis from Holly's days in
the ferret shelter.

"How is da Mama"

Holly saw the longing in Rhys' eyes, but his yearning was not directed
toward her. Rhys craving was for a human far away and out of reach.
With the wisdom of years, Holly reached out to sooth a ferret seemingly
more in need of help than she.

"Rhys, da Mama is gonna bes fine. Shes gots lots of lils ferrets to bes
wid her ifs shes needs luvs."

"Me misses da Mama. Mes tried to stay, but mes dust wasn stong enuf,"
whined the melancholy hunter."Shes always tries sos hards tos makes us
ferrets betters."

"Yous musts has seen Chester and Nibbs pass over," the tiny old lady
knodded to herself. "Yous has gots to go on. Stayn here doesn help da
Mama. Ifn shes knews yous was sads cause uvs hers, shed cry; yous knows
id da truf."

Rhys took his head off his paws and stared consideringly at Holly.
Holly, of course, backed up a few ferret lengths and re-fluffed her fur
a bit in warning at Rhys' more alert posture. With a heaving sigh, Rhys
pulled his bulk to a standing position.

Angling his body to face the way Holly had been traveling from the
first, Rhys said, "Lets us gos den."

With an impish tilt of her head, but a very serious show of a fang,
just to remind Rhys that she was not to be trifled with, Holly
suggested, "Yous firsts."

At the end of the Rainbow Bridge, many, many ferrets were anxiously
awaiting the arrival of the two newcomers, but each of the happenstance
pair had eyes at first only for a single best friend. For Holly, A shy
well-rounded black and tan ferret scooted forward, coyly hiding a
special something behind his back.

"Charlie, yous can sees mes!" squeaked the mite of a ferret called
Holly.

"Yeps," he replied with a bashful grin. "Mes has sumtins fors yous,
Olly-gurl."

"Mes sees! Mes sees!" cried the joyful dancing Holly - joyful to be
healed of her ailments, joyful to be among friends, and joyful to maybe
have something to stash in a hidey-hole.

Charlie could not keep his gift a secret for but a few moments. Holly
spied her unique wings of amethyst purple with onyx trim. Friends
helped her put them on - Lilly, Becky, baby Abby, and Barney. Holly
may have been one of the smallest adult ferrets to grace the Rainbow
Bridge, but her elegance in her wings was a sight to behold! Holly took
a few running steps and flew!

A lanky albino slithered forth to rub sides with Rhys. Many years had
passed, since Rhys and Frost had caused trouble together.

Frost nipped Rhys sharply on the ear. "Dats for snots comn ons cross da
Bridge wens yous was posed tos!"

Rhys bowled Frost over with his massive paw. "Ands dis is fors leavns
mes tos soons, Frost!"

Suspicious moisture lurked in the eyes of both combatants, but the
other ferrets pretended not to notice and turned their attention to a
clap of wings. Codo and Ayla presented Rhys with his glory of crimson
flying feathers which, just in the right light, showed hints of emerald
green and black. Rhys bowed to the two angel ferrets, who had his
respect for surviving many an earthly trial. Then, with business to
finish, Rhys flew after a tiny new angel ferret he could see winging
away far in the distance. Much the same as a misunderstood cartoon
skunk, he'd had an unrequited love for this obviously bashful
hard-to-get feisty Holly ferret for years.


Holly left Ferrets at Heart on 1/11/2013, well passed her eighth
birthday. She had survived being a DMK breeder. Thank you to all who
helped insure her rescue and who granted me the care of the last three
years of her precious life.

Rhys had watched his shelter mom from the Rainbow Bridge since
5/3/2012. He was more than seven-years-old. Never was a ferret more
loyal and trusted. You waited, because I couldn't bear to say good-bye.
Some losses just cut so deep.

Lori of Ferrets at Heart

[Posted in FML 7672]