She's back!!!!!!  My God, I can't believe how happy I am!
 
She was found by a family Sunday night while the little brat hung around a
strip mall near my home (she escaped Saturday night).  To get to that mall,
she had to cross a four-lane major road.  Thankfully she wasn't hit!
Apparently, Zoe decided she needed to make more friends, so she was making a
spectacle of herself going up to people asking to be held.  Doesn't she know
not to talk to strangers????
 
Well, I'm glad she did.  The people who found her took her home and kept her
the entire holiday weekend.  This morning, they checked the classifieds and
seeing no "lost ferret" ad, decided to call the area animal shelter.  The
shelter had my name, and so gave the rescuers my number.  (Incidentally, my
"lost ferret" classified ad will be running tomorrow in both area
newspapers.  It would have ran today if the ad people hadn't taken Memorial
Day off -- and believe me, I *hated* them for doing so!)
 
I got home from class, got the message on my machine, and nearly broke down
in tears as my fingers nervously dialed the guy's number.  As I talked to
him, he said he had found the ferret on Friday.  Uh oh, I had lost Zoe on
*Saturday*.  I thought it was a false alarm, a cruel joke played on me by
fate.  Yet, his description of the ferret fit Zoe's, and the guy's wife
yelled from the kitchen that they had indeed found her Saturday.  I broke
every traffic rule known to man in order to pick her up as quickly as
possible, and was overjoyed to find it *was* Zoe.
 
Turns out she had survived on dog food.  Needless to say, as soon as I
brought her home the first thing she did was head for her food dish.  I
could hardly let her go long enough for her to eat!  Incidentally, I was
finally able to eat a decent meal(the first since Saturday evening).  While
she was away, I couldn't bear eating thinking Zoe was out in the cold
starving to death.
 
Now, she is running around half crazy since I've just givern her a bath.
She was filthy!!  And, funny thing is, I can't keep my eyes off her.  She is
the most beautiful, most perfect ferret around, and I simply can't believe
that she's back with me.  I truly felt like I'd lost my best friend, and I
never want to have to go through that again.
 
Funny how my tiny Zoe (she's just 1.5 pounds) can mean so much to me, more
so than most people I know.
 
As I drove home after picking her up, she curled up on my lap and took a
nap.  It was then I trully realized that she was back and safe, and I'm not
even going to try to find the words to describe the way I felt.  It was
simply wonderful.  (Note that I have a huge smile on my face as I write
this:)
 
Thanks to everyone who wrote me with encouraging words.  I will write you
all back as soon as I finally get some sleep.  Thanks to the FML community,
for lettng me express my anguish and joy to people I knew could understand
the way I felt and offer me moral support.  It went a long way in making
this trauma a little more bearable.  You know, the world would be a lot
bleaker without ferrets and their people.
 
There might be a lesson to be learned in all of this, but I'll let you
figure it out.  At this moment, Zoe is about to get another hug.
 
Markos and Zoe ("What, I'm back in THIS dump?")
[Posted in FML issue 1584]