Rainbow Bridge is a place of both peace and anticipation as departed pets await
their beloved owners. There are plenty of things to keep them contented while
they wait: trees you can't get stuck in, endless meadows, splashing streams,
thickets perfect to hide in for pounce-attack games.
But one day the residents noticed some rather...unusual newcomers arrive.
The koalas and the kangaroos slipped in rather quietly, but then came the
bearded dragons, the skinks and the goannas. The influx of snakes startled an
entire family of cats up a tree. Pythons, cobras, tiger snakes, brown snakes and
even fierce snakes arrived. There were so many at one point, it seemed the
ground itself was alive with writhing. A burly wombat shouldered his way through
the crowd and plopped down in a shady spot, barely missing a Jack Russell
terrier who yapped indignantly as he abandoned his position.
And then the crocodiles showed up.
Finally, a Great Dane managed to get up enough nerve to approach one of the
reptillian giants.
"Um....excuse me," he said hesitantly. "But why are you all here?"
The croc dropped her jaw and laughed. "Same as you mate," she said, "waitin for
someone who loved us."
The dogs, cats, gerbils and other "typical pets" looked at each other in
confusion, then at the plethora of weird, ugly and downright deadly creatures
assembled. Who on Earth could possibly love some of those faces?
"I see him!" shouted a green mamba from his vantage point in one of the trees. A
cacophony of squeaks, hisses, bellows and roars erupted as the mob surged
forward toward a lone human walking across the field toward the bridge. The
other animals managed to catch a glimpse of him before he was overwhelmed by the
crowd.
"CRIKEY!" he shouted joyously right before he was bowled over by the wombat.
"Well I'll be," said a Persian as she tidied up her fur. "It's that Aussie my
human liked to watch on TV. Had to be the craziest human on the whole planet."
"Oh, please," remarked an echidna as he hurried by. "Is it really that crazy to
passionately love something God made?"