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]