Sometimes, even though there's so much to do and see, some of our fuzzies
get bored.  Lots of times, it's just because they miss their hoomins.
Bonds made in the Hoomin world last a very, very long time, and even
though the fuzzies have each other, they get bored and lonely for the
loved ones they left behind.
 
I remember a fuzzy who arrived here about three years ago.  As her
grandma in the Hoomin world used to say, she was a pistol.  Her name was
Babie, and boy was she!  She had the most beautiful albino coat.  It was
so beautiful.  She was so beautiful that she took first place in a fuzzy
show back in the Hoomin world.  Jennie and Steve just spoiled her rotten,
and it showed.  During the fuzzy shows, Babie would just prance in front
of the judges and then pose as if she were royalty.  Everyone attending
the shows just loved her, including the judges, but no one loved her more
than her mom and dad, Jennie and Steve (except maybe her grandma,
Emilie ;).
 
That's why it was so hard for Babie when she had to leave the Hoomin
world and come to the Bridge.  Even though we tried, we could not make
up for how special her hoomins treated her.  Oh, we gave her wings, we
brushed her beautiful coat, and we did so many things to try and make
her feel special, but it never seemed to be enough.  I finally asked her
what we could do, but she said we were really doing enough.  She felt
special, she said, but she saw so many beauti ful fuzzies of all
different colors - cinnamons, blazes, dark sables.  Sometimes, she said,
she wish ed she wasn't so plain and white.  I told her we had tons of
white fuzzies up here at the Bridge, but she just sighed.  That's the
problem, she said.  She felt like she was just one more white fuzzy.
I told her that she was a beautiful fuzzy, that it didn't matter what
color she was.  Nothing I said made her feel any better; there was only
one thing to do...
 
I talked to the Boss about Babie.  I told him how plain she felt she was
because she was just a white fuzzy.  He asked me did I tell her that
there were tons of white fuzzies up here at the Bridge?  I sighed and
told him yes.  Did you tell her that it didn't matter what color she was,
that she was a beautiful fuzzy?  I sighed again.  Yes, I told him, I told
her all that stuff.  The Boss just smiled.  Sometimes I think the Boss
just likes to hear me sigh.  He handed me a bag and told me to give it to
Babie.  I looked in the bag.  It was a bag of twizzlers.  Twizzlers?  We
had all kinds of twizzlers up here.  Did the Boss think twizzlers were
going to make Babie feel better?  I told the Boss that these were just
twizzlers.  How was that supposed to make Babie fee l special?  The Boss
just smiled and told me to give them to her.  Reluctantly, I took the
bag of twizzlers to Babie.
 
When I found Babie, she was laying down in speed-bump formation outside
of her hidey-hole.  I sure hoped this was going to work.  Twizzlers,
indeed.  I told her that the Boss had so mething special for her and
I handed her the sack.  Babie just laid there for a few more moments,
sighed a bit, then took a look into the sack.  She looked up at me,
just a bit frustrated.
 
"These are just twizzlers.  We have all kinds of twizzlers here, every
flavor you can imagine.  Tell the Boss that I appreciate them, but..."
 
I took the bag and looked inside of it.  There were red ones, there were
blue ones, there were green ones, all the colors of the rainbow.  Well,
at least the Boss made sure she had all the flavors.  I handed the bag
back to her, feeling a bit foolish.  Babie took the bag, told me to tell
the Boss thankyou, and headed down into her hidey-hole.
 
I went back to my own hidey-hole.  Well, great, I thought.  Twizzlers.
I had some, myself.  I picked out a cherry one and took a bite.  It
tasted very cherry, but it sure didn't make me feel special.  I wondered
if the Boss really understood what the problem was.  The Boss works in
mysterious ways, alright.  Sometimes they seemed a bit too mysterious.
 
All of a sudden, I heard a squeak outside of my hidey-hole!  It was
followed by s ome very excited dooking.  I heard more and more dooking.
There seemed to be a great many fuzzies outside of my hidey-hole.  I went
up and peeked outside.
 
There were a crowd of fuzzies all gathered together.  They seemed to be
gathered around one particular fuzzy.  As I got a bit further, I saw
that they were gathered around Babie - and she was bright green!  Bright
green?  She was the color of key lime pie!  I worked my way into the
crowd so that I could ask her what had happened.
 
Babie told me that she ate one of the lime twizzlers and all of a sudden
she was green!  But that wasn't all, she said... watch this!  She took
an orange twizzler out of the bag and took a bite - the next thing you
know, she was bright orange!  All the fuzzies ooh'd and ahh'd at her new
color.  My goodness!  An orange fuzzy?  I don't think I had ever even
imagined a bright orange fuzzy before, let alone saw one.  Babie took a
grape twizzler out of the bag and put it in her mouth.  Instantaneously,
her fur turned a deep purple color!  It was a beautiful shade or purple,
and all the fuzzies (even though they didn't admit it) were a bit
jealous.  Babie could turn any color she wanted by eating a different
color twizzler.  Babie was certainly not a plain whi te fuzzy any more!
 
Watching Babie turn herself different colors was a bit unnerving, at
first, but it fascinating to watch.  Her bag was filled with twizzlers
of every color imaginable, and I swear she tried every one.  After a
while, things calmed down.  All the fuzzies went home and Babie and I
had some tea.  It was very strange to have tea with a fuzzy who was
colored fire-engine red.  She told me to thank the Boss very much for
the twizzlers.
 
I asked her if I could try one of the twizzlers.  She gave me a
blueberry-flavored one.  I took a bite and... nothing.  It tasted great,
but I was the same color I had always been .  These twizzlers must only
work for Babie, I thought to myself.  I was beginning to suspect that
there was a method to the Boss' madness.
 
Babie looked at me.  She was beaming!  She loved all this attention, and
boy, did she get it.  Babie told me that she felt just like she did when
she won first place in the fuzzy show, back in the Hoomin world.  She
said it made her think of her hoomins, Jennie and Steve.  She told me
that they would be so proud to see her now, and that she looked forward
to the day that th ey would be able to see the beautiful colors she could
change into.
 
That would not be a problem, I thought.  Jennie, Steve, and Emilie
would have no problem at all finding her.  All they had to do is look
for the rainbow colored fuzzy, the one with the big smile on her face.
 
Sandee
[Posted in FML issue 5165]