Devastation and Worry

UPDATE:  Guess who was hiding in a closet and being silent until we opened the door?  You guessed it.  We're so grateful that he's safe.

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Our sweet ginger tabby, Sheldon, managed to slip out of the garage yesterday evening while we were unloading stuff from the car.  We cannot find him anywhere in the neighborhood.

I am in a panic.

Am feeling responsible, because I didn't even notice he was gone until this morning.  Normally, I do a pet check every night, but I was exhausted last night and just assumed he was in with The Peanut.

Never.  Assume.

The Peanut went to school this morning thinking he might just be hiding somewhere in the house.  He likes to do that.  Except that he isn't.  In the house, I mean, because we have searched everywhere, rattling the treat bag all over the place to no avail.

It is like losing a child, and I am desperate to find him.  What if he's hurt and has no one to comfort him?  What if he is hunkered down and terrified somewhere and can't find his way back to us?

He hasn't been outside since we brought him in during the bitter winter of arctic blast freezes, and he was awfully tiny and pitiful then.  He has no idea how to survive outside the house now.