Hi, all. Well, the most unusual thing happened. I've known for some time that SaraFerret was feeling tired and kind of worn out, but I didn't know what to do about it. I did NOT make her wear that safari outfit, it was just a suggestion I made once to help her look more professional because her head was kind of ...small and ...not right...anyway, I found the outfit folded up carefully with a note tucked into the headband of that toppee hat right beneath the always flowering lilac. It was purple that day. The note said that she and her good friend Hermionie were going to go up north where the ermine lived, and she didn't know when they would be back. Hermionie? I barely knew Hermionie, but I know that she and SaraFerret were good friends. I remember Greeting Hermionie recently when she came across the Bridge. She had a huge Business! Her Brothers in Fur Albus Dumbledore, Mr. Fuzzy Wuzzy, Harry, Ralph, Cinderella, Prince Charming, Simon, Roxanne, Petunia, Daisy, Clover, Lunessa, and Merlin all waited with me as she made her way across, which she did with no fear or hesitation. SaraFerret was there that day, and she and Hermionie found out that they had something in common. Hermionie had a gentle nature, but she was an ankle nipper. SaraFerret was a plain old biter, forget nipper! But it did give them something to talk about. Soon they were fast friends, attending many racous Black Footed Ferret parties together. Many was the time that I saw them from a distance, lapping from the same spilled puddle of beer at one of those all night parties! Well, they are gone now. Have they gone polecat? That is, reverted back to being feral ferrets, become truly wild? That does happen from time to time, but not usually to us domesticated folk unless we have been very badly treated indeed, and a safari outfit doesn't begin to count! I am wildly curious, everyone is, but we don't want to be rude and follow them. Hermionie's good friend Albus Dumbledore says that we should just wait and see what happens. If they come back, they come back, and we will be greatful to have them with us again. If they don't, well, then we will still be greatful, greatful to have had them in our lives. Albus is very wise. In the meantime, amidst all the gossip and wonder, there has been work to do. I met a little girl named Baby coming across the Bridge. She was very frightened, not at all sure that she wasn't traveling from a bad place to a worse place. I nudged her gently into a recovery hammie, and she told me about a memory she had of a kind hoomin, the only really kind hoomin she ever met, who held her in her hands gently, and told her about the Raindbow Bridge in a soft voice. Baby wanted to know, was this the good place? Had the woman been real? I assured her that yes, the woman had been real, and this place was real, and it was her forever, Forever Home, and that the Bad Hoomins who neglected her could never find her again. But some day, a long time from today, she could see the woman again if she wanted, and thank her for holding her in her hands, and stroking her fur, and trying to tell her about the Bridge. It was all the woman, Linda, could do. Baby had been too deeply neglected by the Bad Hoomins. Linda could not save her life, only comfort her as her life left her. Baby and I sat quietly, side by side in the recovery hammie for a long time while she thought about what I had said. I could feel her body relax bit by bit. The sun wheeled overhead in it's course. Finally Baby spoke. "This is my forever, Forever Home?" I assured her that it was, and that the Big Boss loved each and every one of us. She said "Then why did he leave me with the Bad Hoomins for so long?" I said that I didn't know. She could ask, but it wasn't in his nature to answer our questions with anything other than "Yes, no, or maybe." I thought that maybe his long answers might hurt our heads because they were too hard for us to understand. That made her quiet for a long time, too. "He did give you Linda, and that's a very complicated answer", I said. "It is", she replied. Baby lifted her head and said "Does Linda know why?" The sun sparkled on her whiskers. I dropped my own head in deep thought, and I was quiet for a long time. Finally I said "I'll bet Linda is hoping that you know." Well, that got a little smile, at long last. And the healing began. I met a little guy named Tigger coming across the Bridge. Tigger had spent the last year of his life in the company of an excellent Mommy, Karen, who took good care of him. She understood that he liked sleepsacks, not hammies, and that he had a need to torment cats. Well, here in the Afterworld we are not allowed to torment *actual* cats, but we do have the next best thing. We have a place that is like a video arcade. We call it the Virtual Cat Bother. There you can torment a cunningly real holographic cat in a private booth. You can bite the cat in the softest meat of it's leg when it tries to nap, you can nip at it's tail, you can wardance behind it and scare the fur right off of it's back if you like! And it smells just like the real thing, too! The fun can last for hours and hours if that's what you want. You can torment one particular cat, or many, it's up to you. I don't particularly care for the Virtual Cat Bother, but I was more than happy to bring Tigger there and show him the ropes. Once He got his bearings, I left him to his pleasure. I understand that he is an every day visitor! I met a littl guy named Freddy coming across the Bridge. His sister Peanut and his brother Scooter stood with me to greet him. They had a very energetic reunion! There was lots of popping and dooking and wardancing! Tails frizzed up like bottlebrushes! Evidently, Freddy was upset about accidently leaving a toy behind in the World of the Living, a red rubber spider. No problem! The four of us strapped our wings on and we lifted off, one by one into the fresh air. We flew a short distance to the Mountain of Rubber Bugs, a *very* popular place, because here in the Afterworld, there is no such thing as an intestinal blockage! Rubber is our friend! There were wiggly rubber snakes (true, they are not bugs, but they somehow wind up here), shiny brown rubber cockroaches, leggy rubber ants by the thousands, fluttery bats with little gargoyle faces (ditto not bugs, but gotta go somewhere!)golw in the dark beetles, slippery worms by the bucketfull...and, of course, spiders. Smooth ones, jumping spiders, colorful tarantulas, hairy legged ones...and red rubber ones, just like Freddy pined for. Freddy spent the rest of the day dragging his spider behind him. It wouldn't surprise me a bit if he's still got it by a leg! More tomorrow Sandee [Posted in FML issue 4571]