It had been snowing all night from the looks of it. The Boss, in his infinite wisdom, must have decided that we needed to have another snowy play day. Now, I love the snow as much as any fuzzy does, but I could barely get out of my hidey-hole! I had to get to the Bridge to welcome a very special fuzzy, but in order to get out of my hidey-hole I had to dig through two feet of snow, and my paws were frozen! It took me quite some time to get to the Bridge. As I trudged through the snow, I dodged fuzzies who whizzed past me on sleds and skis. Nobody was using their wings today! It was way too much fun for the fuzzies to travel by air when they could speed their way on top of the snow. I ate powder more than once as I made my way. I must admit, when I got to the Bridge it was beautiful! Like everything else, it was covered in snow and sparkled like a million diamonds. I looked for telltale paw prints in the snow on the Bridge, but I saw none. I was expecting a cinnamon-colored boy named Daggett. I was thinking to myself that he must not have arrived yet, but the snow opened up in front of me and out he popped! Daggett had been snorkeling in the snow, waiting patiently for me to arrive. He was certainly a big boy. He sported a handsome reddish coat, the color of fresh raisins, and the reflection of the snow gave it a beautiful luster. I walked over to him and gave him a big hug and welcomed him to the Bridge. I noticed that he was carrying an unusual looking toy with him that he brought from the Hoomin world. Daggett told me that it was his sock monkey, and that his mom had made sure that he had it with him when he left for the Bridge. I told him that while we had a zillion socks here at the Bridge, this was our first sock monkey. At the mention of a zillion socks, his ears perked right up! Daggett told me that he loved socks, and wanted to know when he could start collecting them? I told him that he should slow down a bit, and shouldn't I show him to his hidey-hole first? I started to ask him if he wouldn't have to have some place to stash his socks first, but he dove into the snow before I got the chance! There was no stopping this boy. He was an expert snow-snorkeler. One might forget that he was a fuzzy and think that he was some kind of snow dolphin the way he popped out of the snow and arched up to dive right back in. For a second, he snorkeled so fast that I lost sight of him, but then he popped back up out of the snow directly behind me! I was getting dizzy just watching him. Daggett snorkeled some more while I watched. He was a hard one to keep up with, let me tell you. Finally, he stopped for a moment and his head popped back out of the snow. His face was covered in so much powder that he resembled a fuzzy snowman! He told me he was hungry and asked me what did we have to eat up here? I asked him what he wanted to eat, and right away he asked me if we had bananas and raisins? I told him he could have anything he wanted to eat. "Anything?" he said. "Why, yes," I said, "Anything you want." Daggett told me that for a long time now, his mom told him he couldn't have any bananas or raisins. He told me that those used to be his favorite treats, but his mom stopped giving them to him and he missed them terribly! I explained to him that in the Hoomin world those kinds of treats were not good for fuzzies, and that sometimes hoomins didn't always know, but up here at the Bridge a fuzzy could have any kind of treat they wanted. I told him that the reason his mom stopped giving him bananas and raisins is because she loved him very much and wanted him to be a healthy fuzzy. "Ah, so that's why," Daggett said, nodding slowly, "I thought she might have for got that I liked them. I always wondered about that, but I think I understand now." Talking about his mom, he got a serious look on his face. He told me that he missed his mom and his sister very much. He picked up his sock monkey and put it next to his face, drawing in the scent of his mom and sister which still lingered on it from the Hoomin world. He closed his eyes and took in their scent for quite some time. The snow fell around him, covering him in powder as he stood there, his fur sparkling in the sunlight. As big as Dagget was, I could tell that he would always be his mom's little boy. He just had that little boy look about him . "Hey you," I called to him, "Didn't you say you were hungry?" He opened his eyes. "Oh, yeah, where's the grub?!" he said excitedly. I told him to follow me, but he immediately dove into the snow to snorkel ahead of me. My goodness, I had a hard time keeping up! I yelled ahead to him and told him to slow down, and didn't he know I was an old lady? He headed back and snorkeled around me in circles as we walked to the chow hall. I thought to myself that if he was this hard to keep up with on the ground, how hard would he be to follow if he had his wings? No matter. I walked as fast as I could and Daggett snorkeled around me, and it wasn't long before we could both smell the aroma of banana and raisin pudding coming from the chow hall. Let me tell you, I was going to need a good snack to keep up with this little boy... Sandee [Posted in FML issue 5153]