Bill Keyes posted: Sari sez: >Bill, set loose the ferrets, they're more enlightened than anybody... Right. Gotcha. --------------------------------------------------------------------- El Dupree, unwashed sage of the western plains, sat on the sticky vinyl seat of the roaring Mack truck and tried desperately not to be ill. His head ached from too much tequilla the night before, and his belly was fit to rupture from the sour guacamole he had greedily scarfed at the last roadside stop. The driver wasn't making things any easier. For the last 14 hours, he had talked incessantly about things the Master couldn't hope to fathom (thanks to his limited understanding of the English language). He hadn't been quiet for more than a minute at a time, cheerfully babbling away like a mariachi band gone bad. Burrito the ferret's head poked curiously out of El Dupree's sweat-soaked shirt and looked around, it's (El Dupree had been unable to ascertain Burrito's sex as of yet) tiny black eyes shining like marbles. "Whatcha got there?" The driver asked. "'zat a ferret? My sister had a ferret once. Two in fact, little troublemakers, I told her, but she loved 'em, wouldn't get rid of 'em. I told her, I said, you oughta get a dog or a cat or something normal like, but she wouldn't have it. She loved them like they were her own children. Never had children, she didn't. She and Benny, that's her husband's name, they said they didn't want 'em. She had her ferrets, they were a handful I guess. Wouldn't need kids around with them rascals, lemme tell you. So don't let that critter get loose in my cab, I'd hate to go for the brakes and step on it. Little guys really get into everything, don't they? heh heh heh." "Bite him, Burrito, my leetle friend," El Dupree whispered to himself. "Jus' wan leetle bite on hees thumb, do eet for me." The wise one closed his eyes. He knew the road to Mahaje Mai would be hard, and long, and sometimes dangerous, and he was willing to face these with a stoic heart and a bottle with a worm at the bottom. But this was unbearable. But Burrito had other ideas, and slipped away silently under the seat cushion, leaving the odiferous one to his agony. El Dupree turned to stare out the window at the Southwestern landscape rolling by. The highway shimmered with heat. High above, a lone hawk soared. Off not too far in the distance the buttes and mesas stood proudly, their weathered flanks standing as mute testimony to the power and majesty of this barren land. A tiny bluish bird disappeared into the sagebrush on the side of the road. Suddenly the truck driver lurched. El Dupree jerked his (still somewhat bufuddled) attention to the road in front of them. He saw a small brown animal running across the highway, a dog... no, a coyote. The truck driver swore and tried to stomp on the breaks, but little Burrito, true to form, was sitting just below his foot, and squeeked loudly at the intrusion. The driver was just startled enough to lift his foot again, and the coyote disappeared under the wheels of the speeding Mack. "Damn, mister, I told you to keep that ferret out from under my feet," the driver said after a moment's pause. The truck roared onwards, carrying the sage of the plains who knows where. Somewhere, in the bushes by the highway, the little blue roadrunner was enlightened.