Thursday, May 28, 2026 - 6:49 PM

We saw Gray last night!

When Violet was going around the neighborhood asking if anyone had seen him, the church next door told vir that they'd seen a grey cat run through their courtyard. So at dusk, we all three went that way to see if we could find him.

The common advice, and the specific advice the animal rescue org gave us, was to look for lost pets around dusk, when things are quieter, and when you can use flashlights and hopefully catch sight of the reflection of their eyes. So while that hasn't been the ONLY time we've been looking by any means, it is when we're really focusing our attempts now.

And we saw him!

He'd been tucked under a trailer parked against a hedge, and was startled out. He dashed into the hedge, and we searched for him along the hedge. He'd made a friend! There was a young cat with him, also grey, but with white markings. (I'm so proud my son made a friend so fast!) At first we weren't sure whether the cat we'd seen was ours, or just his grey friend, but he scampered out of the hedge and ducked under a car.

We approached, and he skittered over to a neighboring yard. He stared at Vi and I, deciding whether to run again. I cued up the alarm sound we use for their lunch and dinner alarms, but when I set my phone down, I moved too quickly, and he darted into a bush. The three of us lay on the grass, surrounding the bush, trying to give our boy a chance to relax, realize it was us, so we could bring him home.

Robin saw him best. She was certain it was him, from how he held himself and moved. From the way he carried his fear as if he were unbothered, but was secretly freaking out. She saw him start to settle in, and realize it was going to be okay, that we were his people.

And then a neighbor came out to scold us for being in someone's yard.

Gray dashed off. He went into another yard. We asked that neighbor if we could enter and look for our cat, since the yard was gated. Meanwhile the scoldy neighbor got a third neighbor from her house, since third neighbor has 2 grey cats herself. The third neighbor brought one of her cats out with her, a pretty Russian Blue girl with a much shorter, rounder face than Gray's. We searched the gated yard, but felt the press of time and eyes, and we couldn't find him.

We searched a bit longer, but the trail was cold, and I didn't have much hope we'd see him again, and didn't want to risk chasing him further from where we might find him again.

I was staggered that we even laid eyes on him the second day he was missing, it floored me. I'd been so without hope, so sure my boy was gone forever, so sure that even if we did get him back, he'd be riddled with infected bites and scratches. But he looked uninjured. He moved well. And while a scared cat hides their pain as well as they can, it was still a huge relief to see the boy looking as healthy as he did.

We'll be going out for another search in an hour or two. And tho' I'm trying to prepare myself for disappointment, chaos I want my boy back. Chaos, I hope we can bring him home tonight.