No. 421 was sitting alone on his porch, wondering how he was going to
get along without Oliver for the next few days. A busload of ferrets
was crossing and No. 421 had loaned Oliver's services to whoever needed
him. There was a flutter of wings and Bluebird flew up and sat on the
porch railing. No. 421 told her if she was looking for Oliver he was at
Saraferrets cabin. Bluebird puffed herself up and said in a crisp voice
that she had a fuzzy that had been waiting in the lineup at the bridge
and he needed to get settled. "I need you to greet him, so please get
up and help me."

"Okay okay," No. 421 said. "Let me see the ticket. Humm - Desiderio
where do I know that name. Oh yes - he is part of the wrecking crew.
Yes, yes, I will go right down to the meadow and get him."

No. 421 made his way down the hill and crossing the steam bed, he stood
on the other side looking up at the mound and shook the water off of
his coat. Now he knew how Oliver felt. He would try to do better when
Oliver came back.

"Hello the mound," No. 421 shouted. "Desiderio you in there? Come on
out, I needs to see you."

A sleepy ferret peeked out from under the curtain. "Oh it's you No.
421," Desiderio said. "What brings you here at this hour?"

"I'm here to tell you that your shelter friend Jared is crossing and
I thought you would like to come with me to greet him," No. 421 said.

"Jared is coming over," Desiderio said. "DOOK DOOK. Give me a minute
to get dressed and I'll be right there with you."

No. 421 sat down on a log and barely was settled when Desiderio came
bounding through the door.

"My buddy Jared," Desiderio said. "Boy, I can hardly wait. Where did
you say he was?"

No. 421 began to explain that sometimes air pollution on earth rose up
in the clouds and the weather was not very good up at the bridge.
Everyone had problems but the bridge greeters fared better than some
other folks.

"Still, we are a little behind, but expect to get caught up soon,"
No. 421 said.

The two approached the bridge and a lone ferret was waiting there. He
looked lost and did not hear No. 421 and Desiderio come up to him. "Hi"
he said. "Guess I was day dreaming. I've been here a week or so, and I
miss my Mom and the other ferrets I lived with. Hey, who is that? Mr.
you look just like my old buddy Desiderio. Dooks, I wish I had someone
here I knew."

"Well 'ol buddy, you do," Desiderio said. "Welcome to the Rainbow
Bridge. Sorry it took so long, but we had a lot of problems here
lately, and I heard greeters were down, storms, rain, you just
name it."

Jared jumped up and ran over to Desiderio. He hugged him and dooked
and hugged him some more.

"This is just wonderful, I'm not alone anymore," Jared said. "I hope
I can I live near you, do you think I can?"

"Near me," Desiderio said. "You can live with me, I have a big house
and extra rooms, so come on down."

No. 421 stood there and watched the happy reunion. He felt very lonely
and wished Oliver was home for the umpteenth time. He sat down to wait
while Jared and Desiderio discussed the living quarters and Shooting
Star came around a cloudbank.

"Hello No. 421" she said in a very tinkley voice. "What do we have
here?" Desiderio introduced Shooting Star to his shelter mate and she
patted him on the head. "Would you like to send a message home?" she
asked.

"Oh that would be wonderful," Jared said. "I've been gone a long time,
I hope my Mom has not forgotten me. Please tell my Mom that I'm here,
safe and sound, and I'm with Desiderio. Tell her we will wait for her
and, oh yes, give her a big kiss for me. She was very good to me when
I had nowhere to go. I love you Mom."

Shooting Star told Jared she would deliver the message as soon as she
could. She explained she did not go out in the rain.

"That is okay Ms. Star," Jared said. "I know you will do the best you
can."

"Well, if you don't mind, we will go back to the mound," Desiderio
said. "I want to finish my nap."

No. 421 felt as if he had not done anything to help with the greeting,
but he said he did not mind. "Hey, I'll send Oliver over to say Hello
when he comes back." No. 421 said. "See you around." The three ferrets
walked down the path till the path forked to the left. No. 421 went
right and Jared and Desiderio went left. No. 421 listened to the happy
voices as the two trotted out of sight.

Once home, he put the kettle on and sat down to write in his logbook.
Mission accomplished. Desiderio is a great fellow, had a room already
and was good to Jared. The two will live together and I think
everything will work out fine. No. 421 pulled the kettle forward and
waited for it to warm up. He guessed he would turn in early tonight
and catch up on some lost rest.

[Posted in FML 7062]