Ferret
Ferret
[A color drawing of a ferret with airplane wings and tail on it.]
[Cueball and his Cueball-like friend (to the left) are talking.] Friend: Why on earth did you make those wings? You don't seriously think they could let your ferret fly, right? Cueball: I... of course not.
[They continue to talk.] Cueball: That would be pretty dumb. It's just, uh... ...a Halloween costume. Friend: oh, okay.
[They continue to talk. The head of the ferret can be seen to the far right on a table.] Friend: Besides, who would want a pet to fly anyway? Cueball: Yeah. Pretty lame, huh?
[The friend leaves the frame while Cueball stays. The ferret cannot be seen.] Friend: Anyway, let's go play video games.
[Cueball stands behind after his friend has left. He looks back towards his ferret.]
[Cueball imagines his ferret flying over the ocean near the beach using his makeshift wings while holding his ferret.]

Cueball 's (Cueball-like) friend makes fun of his imagination that involves a flying ferret, and then suggests to go play video games instead. This shows the irony of his definition of "imagination."  He makes fun of Cueball's creative fantasy while instead opting for a mass-produced fantasy.
The fact that Cueball lies about his goal could be a commentary on abandoning dreams to avoid confronting societal expectations.
The title text refers to the fact that Randall's brother in real life had such a pet ferret. Originally, Randall drew this comic while the ferret was still alive, and then it passed away in between his posting it on LiveJournal and reposting it with a title text on the new xkcd site. He now wishes that it will rest in peace.
The ferret returns in 31: Barrel - Part 5 and did in this way become part of the Barrel series . This has also been canonized by Randall as can be seen on this web-archive version of xkcd: The Boy and his Barrel .
The full series can be found here . But below they are listed in the order Randall has put them in his collection linked to above:
[A color drawing of a ferret with airplane wings and tail on it.]
[Cueball and his Cueball-like friend (to the left) are talking.] Friend: Why on earth did you make those wings? You don't seriously think they could let your ferret fly, right? Cueball: I... of course not.
[They continue to talk.] Cueball: That would be pretty dumb. It's just, uh... ...a Halloween costume. Friend: oh, okay.
[They continue to talk. The head of the ferret can be seen to the far right on a table.] Friend: Besides, who would want a pet to fly anyway? Cueball: Yeah. Pretty lame, huh?
[The friend leaves the frame while Cueball stays. The ferret cannot be seen.] Friend: Anyway, let's go play video games.
[Cueball stands behind after his friend has left. He looks back towards his ferret.]
[Cueball imagines his ferret flying over the ocean near the beach using his makeshift wings while holding his ferret.]
