Before I start my sweet little story, I'd like to say THANK YOU, THANK
YOU, THANK YOU!!!  to Jennifer for the idea about the carpet protectors!
So simple, really.  Why didn't I think of that?  Anyway, I want to tell
everyone about something that happened about a month after I got my ferret.
    One day, my husband Tony and I were about to leave the house, so we
needed to get little Seymour back into his cage.  Well, we couldn't find
him, but we wern't too worried cuz this happened all the time.  We looked
in all his hiding places and then in, on, behind and under every piece of
furniture.  We searched in all the cabinets and drawers, but couldn't find
him anywhere!  We DID get worried then and proceeded to turn the apartment
upside down.  Eventually Tony pulled my dresser out from the wall to reveal
a 3" by 4" hole that we had overlooked when ferret-proofing our home.  I
was terrified!  I had heard that ferrets NEVER come home if they run away.
I continued to look for him in the apartment but, of course, he was gone.
Well, Tony and I had to go to some college classes that night, so we put
Seymour's food, along with his favorite scarf and Tony's army boot insoles
(he loved to steal those) at the opening of the hole.  Then we left, with
me sobbing and Tony trying his damnedest not to.  When we came back I
looked hopefully at the hole but the items there remained undisturbed.  We
sat there a little while calling and shaking one of his rattly toys.  My
husband even hammered into the wall to make the hole bigger in case Seymour
couldn't fit back through.  But he turned to me and said, " He's gone,
baby, I'm sorry.  I know you loved him." I burst into fresh tears, (I'm
tearing up now, too).  "He must be so scared", I said.  The thought of my
fearless little ferret being lost and afraid inside a wall, left to starve
to death, made me physically sick.  My husband went to the bathroom to get
me a tissue (he really was crying, now.) When he came out, he suddenly
froze stock still and his jaw dropped.
        I followed his gaze to see Seymour crawl casually out from under
the bed.....and yawn.
[Posted in FML issue 1308]