Hi, all. I met a little guy named Tyler a while back. I was really worried about greeting him, because in the World of the Living, he was deaf. Once he crossed the Bridge, I didn't think he would be anymore. Would he understand me? I didn't want to say "hello" and scare him to bits! The Big Boss actually decided to handle that greeting, that way by the time I met Tyler the two of them would have worked out the best, personalized solution. When I finally did meet him, he not only heard me, he understood me, and he was so happy! He said he'd spent a lifetime understanding that he was missing *something*, but he just couldn't imagine what it was. He could feel all sorts of vibrations, vibrations when hoomins moved their mouths, but he knew something wasn't quite right. He said the mystery never made him unhappy, just curious, as all ferrets are. I asked him what sort of things would he like to hear first? Wind in the long grass? Fresh, green tree leaves rustling in the breeze? Dry sand blowing in a desert? Rain falling? His eyes lit up when I suggested rain. He said with no hesitation "A waterfall. Take me to a waterfall!" So I did. I helped him to strap on his new wings, I slipped into mine, and off we went. We flew together through the cold clear air, high above the land. We flew over fields and lakes, and finally over a dense green forrest. And what a forrest! I love coming here. There are a thousand kinds of green here; leaves and flowering vines, swaying palms and beautiful little swatches of moss, like moist velvet. Birds call from the high branches, and play games of love and territory. Busy jewel-like beetles burrow beneath fallen logs and turn the soil, butterflies light up the forrest cover like bursts of colored radiance, almost too beautiful to look at. (Tyler *loved* the birds, I did get a promise from him not to chase them.) Finally, off in the distance there was a hissing sound. As we came closer it became a roar, and finally, it became like thunder! A bright seam of water picking its' way down a verdant mountainside, first as a little spill, then gathering strength, and becoming a frothing flood. It fell straight down from the lip of a cleft in the rock, a hundred feet straight down into a turbulent pool. We settled on a rocky ledge nearby, and even there, from fifty feet away, the spray flew through the air and settled on our coats as little crystal beads of dew. We sparkled! We sat there, just watching, for I don't know how long. We didn't say a thing, there was no need to. After a while Tyler looked at me and he just smiled... Later, at the Fruit Bar, we had a conversation after we ate. He said that he never needed to hear his Mommy say "I love you" to know that he was loved, and loved dearly. Besides, who can speak hoomin? He thinks she knows that he loved her, too. The only thing he wishes he had heard in the World of the Living was his Mommy Phyllis' voice when she sang to him, right before he crossed the Bridge. He was comforted by her touch, and by the warmth of her breath, and by the vibrations of her voice. He looks forward to a day when he can hear it himself, a long time from now. I went and checked up on a little guy who hasn't been here too long, his name is Fritz. His Mommy wanted to make sure he was settling in O.K. I want to report that he is happy and thriving! I found him at the Mountain of Potatos, selecting one to drag away. (Why do we love to drag potatos? No one knows. We just do.) He currently has four potatoes stashed in a sleeping sack that he keeps in a field full of fresh blossomed, bright red Flanders poppies. He sleeps with them, sometimes. He does spend a certain amount of time with his Business of Maxi, Maxine, and Booger, but he has made other friends, too. He spends a lot of time at the Fruit Bar, and at the Ferretone Fountain, of course. He also enjoys the Tube Maze and the Dirt Mountain. He spent a whole weekend just tipping over bathroom wastebaskets in the field with perhaps ten thousand of them, just dotting the landscape for as far as the eye can see. He wants his Mommy Rosie to know that he thinks of her often, and looks forward to a day, a long time from now, when thay can stash potatos together! Sandee [Posted in FML issue 4350]