"Hello?" Shiva questioned in the complete darkness all around her. "What do you want?" Came a reply. "Who are you?" Shiva asked. "Allow us to introduce ourselves," Came two voices at once, and suddenly a brilliant light revealed a pair of rabbits, which were white with spots all over them, like dalmations. "Our names are Jack and Roger." "Wow," Shiva exclaimed. "You live in this hole?" "Of course," They answered. "Where else would you expect us to live?" "Where did you get that light?" Shiva asked, looking at the flashlight in their hands. "Found it!" Jack replied. "We found a lot of neat stuff in the woods one day." "Correct!" Roger added. "Seems that these hunters were ransacked by some weasels and their stuff got thrown all over the place. So we scavenged it all." "We are ferrets," Shiva corrected him. "Not weasels!" "So it was you then?" Jack asked. "Yes," Shiva confirmed. "My sisters and brother are up there." She pointed to where she had fallen into the rabbit's den. "What are you ferrets doing in the forest?" Roger asked. "Yeah," Jack added. "You look like city-types! Your fur is too clean and your nails are trimmed!" "Well," Shiva told them. "We are here to get our crinkle sack. Have you seen it?" "Is it a big, light blue bag with roses and lace fringes on it?" Roger questioned. "Yes!" Shiva shouted. "Where is it?" "Um," Jack answered. "Last time we saw it we were too busy running for our lives!" "What do you mean?" Shiva wondered. "Well," Roger provided. "These ugly, little gnomes came out of that sack and started saying to each other that they wanted some rabbit stew, so we ran away as fast as we could!" "Can you take us to it?" Shiva asked. "Sure," Jack stated. "Do you need any help?" "Yes," Shiva said. "We can use all the help we can get! How do I get out of this hole?" "Here," Roger replied. "Let me give you a little push." "Yippee!" Shiva exclaimed as he pushed her hindquarters with all of his might and jumped at the same time, sending her sailing out of the entrance to the rabbit's home, into the outside world. "Shiva!" Rosie yelled. "We thought we'd never see you again! Who are these two guys?" She was referring to the two smiling faces that had leapt out of the hole and were at Shiva's side. "These are my new friends, Jack and Roger!" Shiva informed her brother and sisters. "Please to meet you," The bunnies said, dipping their handsome heads in a graceful gesture. (to be continued...) [Posted in FML issue 1960]