Lost and found

Last week, our sweet Simon did not come home for dinner.  He's never wandered off before, and certainly never missed a meal.  When he still did not come home for breakfast the next day, we accepted the fact that he wasn't coming home.  The worst part is not knowing what happened.  I've had the worst visions of the ways he could have died.  Coyotes, fishers, hawks, wolves, or hit by a car.  I searched all around but could find no traces of him.  Every time I drove away from the house I scanned the ditches and woods.  We've had some very cold nights this week, and a fair bit of snow.  I imagined him injured, slowly freezing to death.  We were all distraught.  The children were planning a memorial.  Without a body to bury they still wanted to leave a reminder of him in our pet graveyard, by Sebastian and Zeppelins markers.  A few days after he disappeared, when Chris was out in the mudroom he thought heard meowing.  He thought it was Oliver but he was asleep on the couch.  He figured he must have imagined it.  Then last night while Chris was stoking the wood stove, he heard meowing again.  There was Simon in the mudroom!  7 days after we had last seen him!  Chris called for me to come out.  Simon was skiddish, but came over when I shook the treat bag.  He followed me into the house and frantically started searching for food.  I fed him and he wolfed down a bunch before I took it away to avoid him overeating.  Oliver, who had spent the last week searching for his brother, acted a bit put out that he was home again.  Simon finally calmed down and came over to cuddle.  Today he's back to his old self, maybe a bit jumpy, definitely thin, and very snugly.  I don't know where he's been for the past week, but I'm sure he has one heck of a story to tell!  Too bad he can't tell it to us.  We sure are glad to have him home!