Colosseum 
by ff_b
“See Rome and die,” Roger’s mother had always said. That was hopefully not to say that the visit would be lethal, but rather that Italy boasted so much for a visitor that one could be fully content just seeing the great city. Well, like most first-time tourists Roger decided to hit the heights of Rome, and that included an obligatory visit to the Colosseum. Loving ancient Roman history, the American was rather looking forward to it but was at the same time apprehensive about entering a place where so many had died so needlessly, and all for the cruel entertainment of others. Roger had heard it said that the spirits of those slain sometimes continued to dwell in places where they had met their demise.
–Perhaps the visit would be lethal after all!–These Italians drove like maniacs, and seemed to regard it as a competitive sport. Roger closed his eyes at times but trusted to the sturdy tour bus, and so arrived safely at the Colosseum, listening to the standard informative guide spiel but later wandering off by himself through the ruins in search of a little quiet reflection on the events that transpired there so long ago.
Did you think that only humans died here?, slammed a voice into Roger’s consciousness with a force that almost knocked him off his feet. Reeling, Roger looked about but saw only other tourists some distance away. Many thousands of furred and feathered creatures also died here most cruelly!, continued the voice insistently. History is seen through human eyes!, declared Roger’s unseen informant.– Come see what horrors transpired here from a feline perspective!
His consciousness was clouded, and when Roger’s mind cleared he was on all fours in a wooden cage with bars being pulled towards a light; emerging into it, the American was dazzled by its intensity, as if he had been in a dim place for a long time. There were noises, thousands of voices blending together into a roar.–Many were shouting at Roger; why? He staggered into a large open space, and saw that all of these people were sitting in an arena, above and all around him.–God, the stench!–Didn’t these people use deodorant? There were other smells, too…smells of food, blood, sweat, feces, and a variety of animals.– Roger couldn’t ever remember having smelled so many odors at one time! He sensed that he was far from home…yes, captured, and brought here against his will!–Maybe this gentleman in gladiator costume could direct him how to get out of here, he’d apparently stumbled into a show of some kind…
“Oww!,” screamed Roger.–“Hey buddy, you could hurt someone with that sword!–I don’t want to be here, I tell you!–There’s been some kinda mistake…Hey!–You’re making me mad here!–This is the worst Martin Luther King Day ever!–Aieee!” With those words, Roger was run through, never understanding his brief sojourn in a feline body.
The mind and consciousness of the tourist being thus obliterated in another time and place, his body was free to be inhabited by the transmigrated soul of the leopard whose body had been slain in the Roman Colosseum centuries before. The leopard flexed his human limbs, looking with some distain upon his largely hairless skin.
“Ah well!,” sighed the soul of Felis the leopard. “I’ve been waiting a long time, so I should be happy with whatever body I can get, I suppose!–Let’s see what this 21st century is about, shall we?”
Felis boarded the tour bus, drawing strange stares fom the elderly woman seated next to him as he licked the back of his hand in preparation to grooming himself…
–After the Civil War, Fairfax County, Virginia became more populated, and eventually an insane asylum was built there. This tends to lower property values, and eventually due to public outrage the asylum was shut down. — Well, during the transfer of patients circa 1904 via bus, some of the patients escaped and hid in the surrounding woods and forest. Most of the wandering psychos were found, except for two who remained itinerant. Local authorities found a trail littered with…this is not for the squeamish…half eaten mutilated bunnies! Hence, an urban legend was born. 
–Early reports sugest that a bird strike caused a jet plane to crash in 
–A lobster named George caught off Newfoundland, Canada has been estimated to be about 140 years old using a rule of thumb 
Q:–What is a wok?
Near Juneau, Alaska resides a handsome black wolf who lives a solitary existence apart from a mate or wolf pack. The locals call him Romeo, as he may be the mate of a deceased female wolf called Juliet, who was found dead in 2003. Romeo is estimated to be about eight years old, and for the past six years he has appeared for a six month stretch beginning in November when the glacier’s lakes start to freeze.
–My mother used to eat pickled herring on New Year’s Eve, probably figuring that if she did so, nothing worse would happen to her in the upcoming year.
–Whitehall, New York has a history of sightings of Bigfoot-like creatures extending from Indian lore to as recently as 2006. This small town on the eastern edge of New York’s Adirondack Mountain Preserve has long been consider a “hotbed” of Eastern North American Bigfoot activity. As described by MonsterQuest, the Monster of Whitehall is a sasquatch-like creature that stands up to eight feet tall, and makes a sound like a woman screaming. Several police officers reported a Bigfoot sighting in 1976, and the original officers have recently passed polygraph tests.
—Eartha Kitt died recently of colon cancer at age 82, and we remember her here for playing the unforgetable Catwoman in the original, campy Batman series of the 1960’s. 
–Mice have been genetically engineered that can run twice as far and about an hour longer than their unaltered brethren. The mice also stay in peak condition, even without exercise or a good diet! 
FOXSYLVANIA 
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