Dear Karen,
 
I had to write and tell you about my experience.  I have 2 ferrets, Tabitha
and Endora, whom I love enormously.  They're like my children, and seeing
as I'm not married, and there's no one out there at the moment, they're
likely to be my only children.
 
I have screens on my windows in my bedroom, which also functions as my
ferret play room.  I only let them out when I'm at home, and on average
they're out for a couple of hours every night.  In the summer just past,
I used to leave my windows open, because they have screens on them.  I
thought that even though both ferrets could climb up the screens, they
wouldn't be able to escape.
 
Boy was I wrong.
 
I discovered it one Sunday night, when I realised I hadn't seen the ferrets
for a while.  I called, made their special treat sounds and Endora came out
of her sleeping spot.  But no Tabitha.  So, I tore my room apart, looking
in every corner, every conceivable and inconceivable spot that she could be.
 
Nothing.
 
Then I went outside, and walked around the front yard and along the
street.  Calling, calling, calling.  I went across the road to the spooky
High School.  Calling, calling, calling.
 
I went back inside.  Tore through my room again.
 
Nothing.
 
Then I went out the back.  Calling, calling, calling.
 
Nothing
 
I went out the front. Calling, calling calling.
 
Finally, after repeating this a couple of times, and becoming hysterical,
I was right up the back of the yard and I saw a white flash.  It was my
grubby, beautiful albino ferret, Tabitha.
 
I cried.
 
We've all done it.  It's just that you were unlucky enough for Sterling
not to make it.  Please don't beat yourself up about it.  Let's hope that
Sandee looks after her.
 
With love, Georgina, in Australia, with Tabitha and Endora
[Posted in FML issue 3048]