Matilda ...

Rudy was an opossum on a mission.  He knew he needed help, he didn't know where to GO for it, nor how to get it.  Now if only he could remember how it all works ... 

".. oof" He found himself scooped up and deposited on the angel's lap! Just like the girls (those kitties he met) said it would be!

Andrew stroked the silky fur. While many of life's wild critters ended up in other meadows, he had been granted "dispensation" as it were, for the ones known as the the kitties and dogs he'd come to think of as his own, and the lives theirs had touched.

"What seems to be the problem, young man," the angel asked.  (and as his thoughts rounded up some of the kitties, they appeared at his feet ...)

"Well, Mama (he blushed, if opossums could blush), well, she wasn't my MOTHER, but she was Mama to me .. "

"That's all right", Andrew soothed. There was the uncanny business of everything making sense, in a place where nothing did, and yet it was all okay.

"You rang?" Mouse wasn't at all miffed, and Andrew knew it, but she wasn't giving an inch without giving him a LITTLE bit of a hard time.  She studiously scrubbed a paw.  When in doubt, wash.  

"Our friend here has had his first "quickening".  It seems one of his kind has arrived, sent from the same people who loved him."

"Yes, that's it, that's it ezzakly.  But I don't know HOW I know, or WHY I know, or what it is I'm supposed to DO about it and ..."

"Shush now ... It's all as it should be."  Andrew stroked his fur to calm him, and pointed toward the creek.  "Look, there she is ... just as you were, waking  up in a bed of sweet clover.  Give her a minute or two then you may go and meet her.  Might be better if you did than one of the kitties!"

"Humph.  We did just fine."  

"I know, Misty, but let's have Rudy have the moment, okay?"

"Well, if you put it that way ..." the mollified cat accepted a treat, and watched.  

Andrew set Rudy down on the grass, and off he waddled toward the creek, and the newest arrival.  As he approached her, he cleared his throat, and asked "Millie, Is that you?  It's okay, I'm Rudy and I came from where you did!"

Millie stopped washing her face and looked at the opossum who was speaking to her, which was even more odd than where she wondered she was, or why.

"It'll all make sense, here ... come drink. This is the best water EVER!  No bugs in it, or dirt, just pure clean water! It's Crystal Creek! It comes from the River of Life!"

Matilda thought that was about the strangest thing she'd ever heard out of an opossum's mouth, but she WAS thirsty, so to shut him up she did as she was told.  And then he started in again ...

"You're going to the Rainbow Bridge with me! There's lots of critters there, some like us, and some that lived with people, but all were loved. Come on then, we'll go meet Andrew and  he'll explain better."

THIS ought to be good. He's taking me to meet some guy in a bathrobe (she knew what they were, as the people who were taking care of her recently had them), who is sitting on a rock, with two cats at his feet.  CATS!

Andrew smiled as the two approached, leaned over and scooped up the befuddled opossum, settled her on his lap, and produced appropriate treats from pockets.  (Lots of pockets! With different goodies! She'd have to remember that part, if nothing else.)

"Rudy is right, as far as he went ... You see, you were with people who try to help wildlife, make them better, and release them to be as their Creator intended them to be.  But sometimes, disease or injuries prevent that, and as their last act of kindness, they ease  your passing of life on earth as you knew it.  

"Here you will be healthy and happy, to live forever with your Creator, others of your kind who have come, and the friends you have made.  And one day, when their length of days on earth come to an end, Bill and Pam will come too, and if you wish  you may be with them forever."

Millie tried to take all this in.  "I had a sore in my mouth."

"Yes, and it couldn't be fixed.  You also had a  head injury, probably from being struck by a car.  You would only have gotten sicker, and weaker, and Pam and Bill didn't want that for you.  You had a wonderful veterinarian Dr. Kristen who eased your passing so you would feel no pain.  She sent you here to us, knowing you would be well again."

"There were other opossums in their house. Why are they still there?" Millie asked.

"While their injuries meant they could never live on their own in the wild again, they have become Ambassadors, and travel all over to teach other people about us, and to tell people not to hurt us or be afraid of us," Rudy explained.  "But you couldn't be made well."

"What's with the cats?" she muttered.

Rudy laughed, "Oh you'll get used to them. There's dogs too! and horses, and deer and foxes and ..."

"We get it, Rudy, you don't have to list them all!" Misty nose bumped the happy opossum. "shouldn't we be going to meet the others?"

Andrew rose, with an opossum under each arm, two cats against his ankles, and was gone ...

... only to appear again on a bridge made of every color of the rainbow. The cats jumped down to be with the others, leaving the two opossums that Andrew set gently down.  

"Now what." Millie wasn't at all sure about all this. Just LOOK at all these animals! As far as her eyes could see!  And the Birds ... roosted in trees, or on tops of other animals, all raising their voices in welcome and  homage to their Creator who had made this place for all of them.

Rudy nuzzled her gently. "It's okay, Millie, really it is.  I did it, we just have to accept what has been promised to us, by jumping off the Bridge.  It's the Rainbow Bridge.  Up there, on the hill, those are the great Gates of Heaven.  Oh there is so MUCH to tell you about!"

Just then two beautiful golden retrievers moved to the edge of the Bridge.  Rudy explained, "That's Maggie, and the other is Molly. They make for a soft landing!" and with that, Rudy slid off the bridge onto Molly's back, while Maggie waited for Millie.

"You're sure about all this?"

"Yep!"

"Then here goes ..." and with an 'oof'' landed on Maggie's waiting back.  

They were then surrounded by all the waiting animals, everyone talking at once.  Andrew loved this part most of all he thought, listening to animal laughter in every language, from fox to ferret, fish to fowl ... all of them God's creatures. All loved, all provided for, as the Creator foretold.  As he faded from sight, he heard Rudy call after him "Thanks Andrew!"  And the angel smiled. 

© Rose Scott