Teddy (found)

     Teddy and I have been getting to know each other. He’s a very sweet-natured cat, but, at first, he feared me—owing, I think, to my size (I’m tall). But he’s grown more comfortable with me and with his new home. We now play together often, and he’s happy to roughhouse with me, as long as I’m in a sitting position. So we’re about to the point that we’re good pals.
     Teddy is an indoor cat, and I'm pretty good about preventing him from escaping to the wild outdoors. My front door has a sliding screen door. Unfortunately, it is torn/open on the bottom. To prevent Teddy’s escape, I place a large piece of cardboard across the bottom. But that leaves a smallish section in which he can still crawl under the screen. I’ve got a large book for that.
     To make a long story short, I neglected to place the book there this morning. So, at about 12:15 p.m., I saw Teddy half way under the screen. I immediately yelled “no” to him. Then I walked toward him. Naturally, that only caused him to go completely under the screen. I was at the door in a flash, but he just ran to the left side of the house. I could have followed, but a cat can navigate that ground much more easily than I can, and so I tried to head him off by going back into the house, out the rear door. By the time I got to where he was—less than ten seconds later—I couldn’t find him anywhere.
     I’ve been looking for him ever since. It’s been nearly three hours.
     He doesn’t know this area at all. He’s been indoors the entire time he’s been with me (about two weeks).
     I’ve looked everywhere for him. I’ve left out food. I’ve banged a spoon against a can of cat food. I've left food around the house, in the house. I’ve left the doors to the house open for him to sneak back inside.
     He hasn’t shown.
     I’m very much afraid he went into the hills above my house. If so—well, we’ve got lots of predators out here.
     Boy am I worried.
     Good grief.

* * *

     Found him! (4:20)

* * *

     As you know, I acquired Teddy from Kathie. Teddy obviously loves Kathie—he seems to prefer female to male humans (he's nuts about Annie). And Kathie has a real way with cats.
     So, when things looked desperate, I called her. She made the long trek out here and, within minutes of her arrival, she found the darned guy. Boy was I relieved. You have no idea.
     He was hiding in the laundry room. I had looked there before several times, even with a flashlight. You know cats. If they don't want to be found, then, likely they won't be. He eluded me, despite pretty decent efforts on my part to probe through the boxes in that laundry room. Unfortunately, I stopped short of removing the boxes to get to the spots unreachable by my super-duper flashlight.
     When Kathie called to him, he offered a meek "meow," and she heard it. Soon, he came out to greet her.
     What a knucklehead.
     Cats are that way. They find a great hiding place and they'll just sit there, and, sometimes, no amount of calling and luring will get them to reveal themselves. But Teddy has a real weakness for Kathie. Not for me.
     I took Kathie to a great little Italian restaurant on the plaza in downtown Orange. Northern Italian cuisine. Kathie's been there. —To northern Italy, I mean.
     Good fun.

* * *

     Gotta say, I really don't have it in me anymore to deal with this sort of thing. There've been too many dark episodes of loss and catastrophe. They take a toll. I feel pretty used up.
     By midnight, I fell asleep, a mere shell of my former self. I woke up less than that. Today's breeze blew what was left away.