It was a lovely day at de Bridge. SaraFerret was in her cottage making little sock toys for de kits at de Kit House. Those little souls sure enjoyed these things. Amazingly other fuzzies at de bridge liked them also. So she was kept very busy with their requests. Surely there must be other ones who could make these. She wondered where de Boss had gotten all dese socks. But she knew dat He had His ways--so it was best not to voice them. All of a sudden she heard a knock at de door. She opened it to see Mimi, de little girl courier, with a note in her paw. Mimi said, "SaraFerret, there is a ferret crossing the Bridge and his Mommy has requested that you greet him. He is all alone and has no one here. Do you have a place for him to go? Is there someone you want me to fetch?" She handed me de note and I read it. Then I told her who to get and I scampered to de entrance. I was just in time to see a little sable fuzzy waiting for me at de entrance. (OOPS! I still had de little bright red sock toy that I had been working on when Mimi called to me. Oh well, just keep my paws behind me). So I introduced myself, "Hi I am SaraFerret and I am de bridgegreeter. Welcome to de Rainbow Bridge. Dis is your new forever home. Here you will have no more pain or suffering. You will run on green grass forever and have lotsa friends. Did I mention de fun and games? Oh yes, here is a welcome gift." He took the sock toy and held it in his paws lovingly and said, "My namd is Bud and I did belong to Mommy Donna. She rescued me from someplace, but then she got sick and I went to live with Miss Marlene. Are you sure this will be my new forever home? I do get tired of moving around. I miss Mommy too. Thanks for the toy. I miss my friends at home too. I don't know anyone here and I don't see anyone here but you. I suppose you and I can play together. Do you like to wrestle? I really don't like to sleep with others but I love to play. Are you SURE there are other ferrets here besides you and me??????" I replied, "Bud, yes this is your forever home. You will never move from here. I know that fuzzies get tired of being moved around, but sometimes things just happen to humans and it can't be helped. I know your Mommy loved you so very very much. There are defintely other fuzzies here; you will meet them in a little while, but we have things to do first. Oh yes, I do love to wrestle and run and play. I haven't wrestled in ages though, not since I was on earth. I am happy that you liked the toy. There are many other things to do at de bridge also. And I will tell you another surprise, you will get wings, just like mine--well not exactly like mine, yours will be boy wings, specially designed for you. They are great for flying about de heavens--sure beats hopping from cloud to cloud. One of de fuzzies will give you flying lessons." Off we went down de garden path to de Wing House where de wings were stored. At de door, we met met a handsome sable siamese who introduced himself. "Hi I am Ozzy, from Canyon Lake Retreat. I am here to invite you to stay with us until de rest of your family arrives. We are a great group. We love to dance and party. We have lotsa toys and above all, we have heard that you treasure your privacy and we do allow that. We Texas ferrets are polite like that." Bud was thrilled to know that he would have a group to be with. (Personally I think that he was happy he wouldn't be stuck with a scrawny girl fuzzy with a bushy tail who didn't know how to wrestle and would be BORING). We opened de door and on de counter was a big box marked "Bud". He opened de box and took out de wings--Red with silver streaks. Ozzy helped him on with his wings and adjusted his halo. Then he ran to de big vanity mirror and gazed at his reflection. A handsome sable fuzzy looked backed at him. He turned to me and said, "Gee I wish Mommy and Miss Marlene could see me now." Den I gots an idea. We went out de door and down de path which was getting overgrown with cornflowers, to de Misting Pond. We sat down beside de cool clear water and with one swish we saw a vision of Mommy Donna and den dere was Miss Marlene in de distance. Bud got so excited he started waving and dooking with all of his might. "I love you Mommy and Miss Marlene. Thank you for loving me Mommy. Thank you for taking care of me Miss Marlene. Miss Marlene, thank you for holding me when I began my journey here. I got a bright red sock toy as a gift when I got here; you would really like it Mommy. I have red wings now with silver streaks and soon I will be able to fly. I feel lots better now. Oh yes, I have a friend here. His name is Ozzy and he says I can stay with his group so I won't be all alone. I know you were worried about that. I will be okay here." Then he began to throw hugs and kisses and wrapped dem with all of his love and laid dem on two shooting stars which were headed to both of your houses and by de time you should read dis it should have landed dere. And with another swish de vision was gone. We left there and went down de road to the Canyon Lake Retreat. All of a sudden, There was a large group of fuzzies carrying a sign which read, "Welcome Bud." He was amazed. "They really really like me, don't they." he said to me. "Of course they do," I replied. "These Texas fuzzies are really friendly and they are always partying. And just wait till they take you to de Mudslide. This group is always on the run." Then he spotted all the other fuzzies running in and out of the cottage carrying food. And he asked me who they were. I told him that they were friends and neighbors. Music was a-playing so we went inside. I realized that they had added two more rooms. and an additional wing holder and a new hammie special for Bud--in fact it had his name on it. All sorts of food--chocolate everything, sweet iced tea, cold pepsis, squirt cheese and crackers, all those things so dear to fuzzies and oh so forbidden to us on earth. I was invited to stay and dance, so I decided to do this just for once. De kits were old enough to take care of theirselves--now where were they? OOPS! They had heard all the noise and decided to check it out and here they were. So I knew they would be okay as their were other small ones for them to visit with and besides they would be eating most of de time anyway. I saw Bud put his sock toy on his hammie and then he began to dance up a storm. I figured I could dance as good as de next fuzzy and so dere I was out on de dance floor. Did I mention we were dancing forever it seemed. Finally I was worn out and de kits had fallen asleep. De party was still going strong. So I woke de kits and said my goodbyes to Bud and Ozzy. I thought to myself as I headed for home that it was really a blessing that there had been a place for Mommy Donna to leave her fuzzies in her hour of need and know that there would be someone who would love her babies. Miss Marlene must be really a good person. Lovey and hugs, SaraFerret, bridgegreeter [Posted in FML 6619]