I thank each and every one of you for the stories you shared. I had tears when I was done....the story about the coca cola did me in.....my boss walked up to me and asked me why I was crying.......this was worth the challenge and I thank each and every one of you that participated! *Whew* - nothing beats a big dose of laughter in the morning! Here's one of all of you! As some of you may remember, I have a ten year old son, who is very "animalistic" (no pun intended - no children were harmed in the testing of ferritability) - and tends to speak his mind. I also have mentioned that we just got a "spazoid" albino from a local rescue here in town. Well, my dear little 10 year old, is now seeing what I meant about "choose your ferret carefully" - and "don't take the first ferret that grabs you by your lower lip, to use as a bungie jump....ahem. Anyways - this wonderful little albino (his name is Artimus - and damn, it sure fits him) - decided that he can now open his cage and wander at free will. Last night, we discovered, not only can he open his cage - but he can open his brother and sister's cage also. So, off he pops over to the other cage, where the poor, unsuspecting, "good" ferts are cuddled in a puddle sleeping together....rips open their cage and dives at them. After awakening and sufficiently terrorizing them, he will "nip" at them, to get them to come out and play. Once he rounded them up - up the stairs they went (my husband and I watched this in the dark - so we could find out how they were getting out) - to.....yep, you guessed it. Zachary's room. Slowly, they crept across the carpet, their fuzzy senses ever alert to every snerkle and snort that a ten year old can make..... Helena and Romulous, tried to reason with Artimus - "he sleeps too high - way up on the second bunk"! We'll never get to him!!! They must have forgotten who they were talking to. Silently - he crawled over to the dresser - scaled it like it was Mt. Pleasant, leapt from the top - and landed: ON TOP OF ZACH'S HEAD. Blood curlding shreaks eminate through our normally, quiet neighborhood. Lights flick on across town. Shrieks get louder as 10 year old launches from top bunk (oops, where were the stairs?) - and lands - smack on his bum. Other ferrets are now cheering wildly as Artimus does a graceful swan dive and lands AGAIN (I swear if I hadn't seen this - I'da called me a liar) - on stunned kids head - other ferrets immediately join forces and attack the toes that are wiggiling like crazy. Ears licked, toes chomped - son flies down stairs - arms flailing......cats run in front o him, trip him up. Dog runs for cover - smack into the laundry room door. Now we have a hysterical 10 year old - flying through house with a white hat.....oops, a white ferret firmly attached to his head. We have unconcious dog who was only trying to escape - and two cats who are looking at me, like I will be their next scratching post. This is where it gets good kids - out the screen door 10 year old dashes......I guess.....he forgot......the heated, uncovered pool....well, he remembered. Too late. Into pool - child and furry go. By this time, I am useless, as I am hysterically rolling on the cement out side. My hero (husband) dives in the pool to save everyone. Now we have wet husband, wet son - who has no clue what just happened to him, we fert who is desperately looking for a lifejacket - and hysterical mommy. The story had a good ending though. After removing (in the following order) Fert, Son, then husband, all come back inside. Dog is wandering around shaking his head.....cats have hidden. 10 year old looks at me and says: I TOLD YOU I DIDN'T WANT THIS DAMN FERRET!!!! (yeah right) - and storms off to bed. Husband fixes cage (wire ties) - so that our wandering terrorizing skamp will cause us no more horror. He takes one look at me and says: You never told me it would be like this....and if you bring home ONE MORE ANIMAL.......*hehehehehehehe* Kimberly Gorman Regional Translations Engineer Cricket Communications A Leap Company Albuquerque NM 87107 Office: 505-872-7773 Fax: 505-872-7790 Cell: 505-228-4130 Cricket cell: 489-2470 [Posted in FML issue 3890]