Hi, all.  I'm still trying to get the word out that I'm posting mondays
now.  Tuesday is my "rain date'.  It just simplifies things from a
customer service standpoint.  As ever, feel free to make requests to
the FML, or to my [log in to unmask] mailbox
 
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Hi, all.  A little girl named Maru came across the Rainbow Bridge the
other day.  She did it so quietly, with such grave dignity, that I almost
didn't notice her and had to be reminded!
 
She is a little sable girl who lived a long life, and her loyal friends
Jasper, Rio, Bandit, and Treasure were waiting for her.  They had a good
reunion, lots of laughing and rolling in the grass, flattening it down
with wardances in a big circle!  You'd never know it to guess from her
beauty now, but she was really Grandmother Maru, with wisdom to go with
her years.
 
Well, there was one loose end.  A dog named Colby, who was near and
dear to her heart.  I didn't want to take her whole Business to the Dog
Afterworld.  It's an exciting place, but sometimes the dogs get a little
too excited when they see a whole Business of us arrive, and I didn't
want any unpleasant misunderstandings.  I explained my plan to Maru, and
she was agreeable.
 
Her Business helped her strap on her new wings, and helped her into a
little set of goggles.  She and I headed into the west across the Bridge.
There is only one Bridge of course, but it leads to many places.  Her
friends waved and shouted and ran along with us for a little while while
we flew, until finally we were alone in the high, thin, crisp air.
 
Soon we could feel the stinging on our faces, tiny little ice crystals
like sand.  Thank heavans for the goggles!  It wasn't too much longer
before we could see that we were in a zone of tiny red ice crystals,
hard and shiny, small as pinpricks.  Our wings were red, we were red!
 
We flapped along, and soon we changed color abruptly to buttery yellow
ice crystals, like the finest ice sand you could imagine.  We were very
high up indeed!
 
That zone lasted a little while, until we were abruptly in a moonscape
world of blue ice crystals sifting past us, bluing our wings, crusting
our goggles.
 
I so much prefer to walk across the Bridge, but Maru really, really
wanted to fly the route!
 
Soon the crystals thinned, the hissing noise we heard as we flew
through the colored rainbow bands fell away, and there it was, the dog
afterworld.  We could see dozens of them in the long grass, chasing
frisbees, curled up for naps, playing tug of war with ropes, and just
plain playing chase in packs.
 
We set down gently near the end of the Bridge here, and shook the
multi-colored ice crystals from our wings in great confetti drifts.  Our
Greeter, Rex, was there to meet us.  So was colby!
 
Well, Colby and Maru played some hissing and chasing games, but it was
obviously in good fun.  Anyway, it gave me time to clean off my goggles
and stash them back in my backpack, the one that Hoomins don't know about
(How else do you think we stash all of that stuf under your sofas?)
 
Rex the Greeter and I got to talking for a while, stretched out in the
sun.  Office chat, you know how it is.  He was pretty troubled by the
number of unwanted puppies he's been hit with lately.  When would those
Hoomins learn to neuter and spay?  It's not like we can do it ourselves.
I could relate.  I am apalled by the number of ferrets I greet who have
lived on nothing but cheap cat chow, no vet visits.  It's all so sad!
 
Well, Maru and Colby said their goodbyes, and we got geared up for our
long flap back.  Then we put the gear away and walked back.  Maru said
that the arial route ws beautiful, but she'd just as soon walk back this
time.  Suits me!
 
I met a little girl named Zoey coming across the Bridge.  She didn't
just walk, she BOINGED!  This was one happy ferret!  She said that she
had been blind in the World of the Living, but that she had been having
visions of the Afterworld there.  The Fruit Bar, the Plain of Sofas,
the Virtual Cat Bother Machines, the High Mountains and deep Forrests.
*Especially* the Rock Candy Forrest.
 
No Problem!  It's a long flap, but her Business of Jillian, Cinnamon,
Sabrina, Pepper, and of course her extra special friend Wriggs all suited
up in wings and prepared for the trip.
 
We flew over grassy fields studded with crimson Flanders poppies and
oxeye dasies, we flew over gently rolling hills of prarie that shone pink
and purple in the twilight.  Finally, we could see glimmering in the
distance, the Rock candy Forrest-A thousand facets of reflected evening
orange sunset sky.
 
We landed gently near it, and decided not to go in deeply, lest we get
lost, and forced to overnight there.  The crystal pine trees and their
bark shone orange and magenta in the deepening evening.  Every now and
then we could hear a Rock Candy pine cone SMASH!  onto the forrest floor
in the distance.  The trees barely stirred in the breeze, and when they
did, they did so with a faint squeak!  Creak!  sound.
 
As the evening descended, the shattered diamond planes of light darkened
to purple and gunmetal blue.  It was so beautigul!  We feasted on twigs
and bits of pinecone that we found at the feet of the Rock Candy pines.
They were so sweet, so fine.
 
As true darkness set in, we flew in formation back to the cold, clear
spring near the Fruit Bar to slake our thirst, and to groom the
stickiness from our paws and coats.  It had been a beautiful evening,
one that I will never forget.  Thank you Zoey!
 
I met another little girl coming across the Bridge.  Her name was Yoko
OHNO!  I asked her how she got her name, but she just giggled and
wouldn't tell me.  There is a good story there, I am sure!  Yoko said
that she was very happy to be here, she had been feeling poorly in the
Land of the Living, and she had known that she was facing her final
illness.  She cannot thank her Mommy DookDancer enough for holding her
close during that final long night, it meant everything to her.  Every
comfort, every kindness, and abundant, never ending love like a cold ,
clear fresh spring of refreshment for her spirit.  Some day, a long time
from now, Yoko wants to fly with her Mommy to the cold, high grey granite
mountains and watch the sun come up, just the two of them.
 
I met a little guy named Java Joe coming across the Bridge.  His buddies
Big Al and Clover were waiting to take him to the Tube Cube.  It is an
awesome thing, a hundred feet high, a hundred feet on each edge full of
tightly woven metal and plastic tubes.  It is the ultimate maze!
 
The three guys spent an entire afternoon scrambling, climbing, zipping,
descending, twisting, backtracking, exploring by nose and eye.  They had
a blast!  Finally, Java Joe and I met in a curved yellow plastic tube
and talked about his life.  He said that he had been rescued from a
pound, and given a marvelous Forever Home by his Mommy Nancy.  He really,
really, wants to see her someday to thank her for all the love and care
she gave him, but he knows that she will never fit into these tightly
compacted tunnels.
 
I suggested that when he sees her, a long time from now, he brings her to
one of the dances that the Wild Black Footed Ferrets put on nightly.
There is dancing, singing, dancing competitions, food (well, she might
not want any of that), all matter of entertainment, and it lasts until
dawn beneath a moon that is always full.  There will be time, plenty of
time to thank her for the abundance of love she gave him, a love that
straddles two worlds.
 
Java Joe thinks that is a cool idea.
 
I met one more little guy crossing the Bridge.  His name was Nipper.  I
asked him if he was going to bite me like Saraferret always does, but he
said no.  HOomin toes were really his thing.  He no longer wanted to be
known as Nipper, but as Nipper noodle.  No Problem!
 
Nipper Noodle and his good friend Sapp and I flew away to see sapp's
home in the field of stereo speakers.  There are thousands of them
there, thousands of different types of foam rubber and cloth faced and
re-inforced paper cones and wooden shelled speakers.  (No wire, they
never play, but they make great condos.)
 
Well, there were ancient Edison machines, Farnsworths, wind up Pooley 78
and speaker combinations, Yamaha's, Radio Shacks, and even white cubic
Bose that could be stacked together to make homes that looked like little
modern art museums.  All but the Bose had fabric or foam rubber facings
that could be, ...um...renovated to suit a ferret's need.  (I.e.  ripped
to shreds)
 
Nipper Noodle and Sapp moved right into a big bulky Zenith that Sapp had
never noticed before, and they set about renovating it with great energy
and passion.  Out came the woofer, out came the tweeter, those pesky
magnets wound up in the long grass in an instant!  But the wooden case
was oh, so beautiful, all blond wood, I can't wait to see it whn it is
finished!  Nipper Noodle and Sapp really hope that their Mommy Linda will
like it, someday,a long time from today, when they are together again.
 
Sandee
[Posted in FML issue 4487]