SIGHS OF THE HEART
 
"She keeps repeating it over and over again.  We've been back to this
shelter at least five times.  It has been weeks now since we started all
of this," the woman told the caretaker of the shelter.
 
"What is it she keeps asking for?" she asked.
 
"Ferret size!"
 
"We have plenty of ferrets, if that's what she's looking for.
 
"I know.  We have seen most of them," the mother said in frustration.
 
Just then the child came walking into the office.  "Well, did you find
one?
 
"No, not this time," she said with sadness in her voice.  "Can we come
back on the weekend?"
 
The two women looked at each other, shook their heads and laughed.
 
"You never know when we will get more ferrets.  Unfortunately, there's
always a supply," the caretaker said.
 
The child took her mother by the hand and headed to the door.  "Don't
worry, I bet we find one this weekend," the child said.
 
Over the next few days both Mom and Dad had long conversations with the
child.  They both felt she was being too particular.  "It's this weekend
or we're not looking any more," Dad finally said in frustration.
 
"We don't want to hear anything more about ferret size either," Mom
added.
 
Sure enough, they were the first ones in the shelter on Saturday morning.
By now, the child knew her way around, and she ran right for the area
were the ferrets were housed.  Tired of the routine, Mom waited in the
other room.  The young girl walked slowly from cage to cage, kneeling
periodically to take a closer look.  One by one the ferrets were brought
out and she held each one.  One by one she said, "Sorry, you're not the
one."
 
It was the last cage on this last day in search of the perfect ferret.
The shelter caretaker opened the cage door and the child carefully picked
up the ferret and held it closely.  This time she took a little longer.
"Mom, this is it, I've found the right ferret!  He's the one, I know it!"
she screamed with joy.
 
Mom, startled by all the commotion, came running over.  "What?  Are you
sure?  How do you know?" she asked.
 
"It's the ferret sighs!"
 
"Yes, it is the same size as all the other ferrets you held the in the
last few weeks," Mom said.
 
"No, not "size" -- "sighs." When I held him in my arms he sighed," the
child said.  "Don't you remember?  When I asked you one day what love is,
you told me, "Love depends on the sighs of your heart.  The more you
love, the bigger the sighs."
 
The two women looked at each other for a moment.  Mom didn't know whether
to laugh or cry.  As she stooped down to hug her child, she did a little
of both.
 
"Mom, every time you hold me, I sigh.  When you and Daddy come home from
work and hug each other, you both sigh.  I knew I would find the right
ferret if it sighed when I held it in my arms," she said.
 
Then, holding the ferret close, she said, "Mom, he loves me.  I heard the
sighs of his heart."
 
Note: Original was written by Bob Perks about dogs but I modified it for
ferrets
[Posted in FML issue 4007]