Brown-tabby an white bob-tailed gurl luks around the edges uv the
standing stones, den whispurrs to the brown-tabby an white long-tailed
gurl beside her. Then bof kitties step forward. The bob-tailed gurl
cleers her throte and addresses the assembly.

I gess MirandaBanda, High Priestess uv Bast an da Jesse Memorial Critter
Complex (JMCC) is bizzy doing Bast priestess druid fings, so my winkwink,
Pandora Pussycat, and I wud like to give a tribute to a member uv da
JMCC who haz gone to da Bridge dis yeer. I'm prowd to be related by
winking to da JMCC clowder, an honnered to be able to gif dis tribute, cuz
Little Bit wuz furry speshul to Pandy an me.

[gently snipped for ISP]

I'ze heer, I'ze heer. Yoo won't beleeve da typist trubbles I'ze had!!
Momma Jo kept draggin her feets about da Jellicle Ball an I fink she
wuz scared, an she kept sayin she didn't no ware to begin to write a
tribute. So FANGU Tally for doin dis!!

We all miss Little Bit furry much. She wuz a finefine doggie. An yoo
gottid da story furry well too. I finally dragged Momma Jo heer an
she's gonna say somefing now. RITE Momma Jo????

Miranda-banda, dragging da hoomin out to speek.

Um, thanks, so much Tally. And Miranda-banda. Sorry I'm so late
everybody. Well, let's see if I can do this.

Little Bit arrived at our front door at the age of six months, in the
arms of some guy who asked us if she was ours. We said no, and he
said she was in the middle of the road in front of our house. We
later learned some things that make us think it was a trick and he was
trying to "dump" her. She was a very beautiful pit bull mix and the
sweetest dog you can imagine. We let her stay and I tried to find her
a good home. Every time somebody called in response to our ad, she
shook with fear. Somehow she knew. Anyway, eventually we gave up and
realized she was our dog. During the first few weeks that she was
with us, I kept saying, "Now don't get too comfortable little dog,
we'll feed you, but you're not staying with us." After a while
"little dog" turned into "Little Bit." But she turned into a Big Bit.
And of course, she stayed. The day she knew she was in was when we
put a heart-shaped ID tag on her collar with her name and our address
and phone number on it.

Little Bit quickly made friends with our dog Terry Jo and the two of
them worked tirelessly to protect and defend us and make us feel
loved. One time she and Terry Jo probably saved our lives when a
creep knocked on our door at 4 AM asking to come in and use our phone.
She didn't like him one bit, and she and Terry Jo chased him away and
pinned him against our fence until he begged us to allow him to leave.
They never hurt him, but he sure knew never to come around again.

But she was remarkably gentle. I remember once when she and a 4 year
old little girl named Mariah went walking on our land picking
blackberries. I didn't know how she'd be with kids, but she was
wonderful. I saw the two of them coming back, mouths all purple,
Mariah's arm around her and handing her berries: one for you, one for
me, one for you, one for me...

Little Bit loved to cuddle. She tricked us into letting her sleep on
our bed and she slept there every night, face pointed to the door to
protect us. She loved when we would lie lengthwise along her body and
"spoon,." wrapping an arm around her middle. And she gave great
doggie kisses.

Everybody loved Little Bit. She was a great hiking buddy and always
an ambassador of good will. She was a member of the One Ear Up club
on rec.pets.dogs.

She worried about leaving for the Bridge and hung on as long as she
could. She wanted to make sure we'd be okay without her. After she
left, I realized how much work she really did for us. She kept
intruder cats away, told us every time somebody who didn't belong came
around, sounded the alarm when cats were fighting, notified the bears
and racoons and coyotes that our property was off-limits, and let the
hoomins know that our home was protected. She was cheerful and
good-natured about meeting new people and making friends, made friends
with her babysitters on the rare occasions we went away, and was
always there to give love.

We miss her very much and hope she is happy at the Bridge.

Momma Jo, feeling like words aren't adequate to say what she means.