Losing Paul Simon
Paul Simon didn't return home as usual one Friday morning in August. As it had been a full moon, and the weather was unusually warm, I didn't worry too much at first. He was the wanderer, and enjoyed being in and out of the house on warm nights. When he was missing for more than two days, we began to look for him in earnest. We asked around the neighborhood, filed a lost cat report with the humane society, put up flyers; and I began posting religiously on many lost pets pages everywhere -- on social media, Craigslist, etc. -- and spent all of my free time looking up posts. I went twice to the animal shelter to look at cats that were not Paul, and kept track of another cat that a neighbor was spotting that also turned out not to be Paul. I went outside every hour or so and called for him. He was wearing a collar and was micro-chipped, so we were hopeful we could locate him. We were so worried. Everyone I talked to had an idea about what had...