Hi all dis is SaraFerret, Note to Mommy Florence, I greeted Toby as he came across de bridge. Howevers Mommy has been sick and unable to translate and put my messages to fml or whatever. So please forgives her as she does lotsa good works. Ok back to last Monday. I was frolicking in de park where dere are swings and stuff. And running after two kits who were bound and determined to have me drop in my tracks. All of a sudden announcement from de speaker, Ms SaraFerret, you have duty today--you know you are sposed to be at de bridge for dat. Send Isabel to Mully and let him take care of her. So I grabs Selena and Isabel is sent off to Mullys digs. Selena and I stop by de litterbox for a quick pit stop-as it looks tacky just to do it on de grass. I pops Serena in my backpack and we are off. Wowsie dat little kit is putting on some pounds in few minutes. Serena giggles and tells me that she has some rocks in dere. Serena, remove de rocks from de backpack and we will get dem on de way back. One by one I feel the pressure ease as stones are dumped from de backpack. Sigh!! I gets to de bridge and check de note. Toby is a short bodied boy. OOPS here comes his buds, Paco and Ferris from their den. Dey inform me dat dey have everyting set up for Toby. Now isnt that nice I says. They spot him first. Hiya Toby, hiya bud. Whatever is de matter wit dat boy--he is trying to walk backward. Oops I checks de note again-- his mommy apparently (dictionary) told him when she dropped him off at de vets dat she was soming back to take him back home with her, but she didnt. Awww--poor little guy, No wonder. I asks de two guys if dey would mind looking after Serena for a few and she hops out of de backpack and holds onto dere hands. Such a good little kit. Hey Toby, you gotta turn around and walk forward or you will fall off. Okay, now I will just hop over dere and aim him in our direction. I tip-toe over dere so as not to frighten him. Hey Toby, and he jumps about four feet in de air. OOPS I guesses I should have made a lot of noise when I came over here. I did catch him on de way down tho. He looks at me kinda shaking and he says, are you Ms SaraFerret? Yes, I says. Why did you scare me? I didnt mean to. But I did catch you. I notice he has a crammed-full secret backpack--we will talk about that when we get back over de bridge. And why are walking on tippy-toes? He says hes always walked dat way like de song says-tippy-toe thru de tulipsy. Well why are you walking backward. Big tears come to his eyes. I tell him wait a minute-lets get across de bridge and we will talk. Since he was shivering and anxious from being scared half out of his skin, I had to shove his skin back on him and get him together and then I picked him up--hey lugging that kit around has made me Wonder GirlFerret. We gots to de entrance and I lets him down and I re-reads de note -- oops that explains it. He says Mommy was sposed to pick me up from de vet--why did she lie to me. Toby, I says, she didnt lie, she didnt know dat you had to come to de bridge. But why did I have to come here and not have Mommy with me. He was sobbing so hard and his buds were justs hugging him. Den dey Boss appeared and leaned down and said to him, Toby do you know who I am-- He looked at de Boss and he says I tinks from de way Mommy used to talk dat You must be de Boss. Why did I have to come here and why did Mommy lie to me about coming to get me. Toby, De Boss says, your body wasnt well and you had to pass over de bridge; your mommy did pick you up and carried your body home and buried it in de backyard. One day she will come to join you here. Until dat time, you must stay here with your buds and de Bridge-greeters and all de other musteys here at our new home. And den de Boss did something He seldom does--He picked up Toby and cradled him in His enormous arms and hugs him. Toby quit crying and den de Boss gave him an extra big hug and put him down beside me. He said I must be off to do things around here. Remember what I said, Toby. I had big tears in my eyes. Dat was so beautiful. I dont tink a ferret has ever been greeted in quite de same way. Wait till I tell his Mommy whats happened. She will be amazed, Den we all relaxed and Serena asks Toby what he has in his backpack. He says you know about dis? Sure all of us musteys have one. I spoke up and tells him dat only musteys who are the beloved creatures of de Boss are allowed to bring something from earth to here. So he drags out a fuzzy cow and lots and lots of pairs of crinkly tube socks and I asked him where he got dem--He says well I knew I was gonna go to vet so I loaded up my pack wit all de socks in daddy's drawer. Note to SaraFerret-tell Ms Florence where her husband's socks are. Den he says well I am tired now and I guesses I am gonna go wit my buds and go to sleep. Not yet Mr Toby. Dont you want your wings? WINGS!!!!!! I gets WINGS!!!!!! Sure do, after checking my ears to make sure I can still hear after he screamed in dem--boys gets so excited. So we goes over to Kit and Kaboodle and pick out some gorgeous wings and we put dem on him and put his new halo on him. Oh he was quite de ferret angel and other littlegirl ferrets came around and said shyly Hi toby, Hi toby. He blushes too and de girls giggle and run away. Then since he was all ready, the boys and I went to his new house dat said Party FOR TOBY in big letters across de house. And he just whooped and hollared in happiness. Wowsie dis is really somting. Us older ferrets stood around and enjoyed their youthful cheers and playing. They sure are sweet Jimmy Backfootie says/ Yes dey are, while I held Serena close to me. And so ended another welcoming at de Rainbow Bridge Dooks, hugs, loves Ms SaraFerret [Posted in FML issue 5177]