Where oh where has our Fat Cat gone?

Before we went to bed on Thursday evening, Chris asked if I had seen Fat Cat. I told him that I had not but she would come in to the bedroom later to sleep on my pillow. When we woke up on Friday morning, we realized that she had not come in our room all night. So, at 5 in the morning, we are all up and looking for her but she is nowhere to be found. Our first thought is not about what are we going to do but how do we tell Trey? Trey, our oldest nephew, adores Fat Cat and always has. He comes over just to see her sometimes. He would be so heartbroken if she didn't come back and we were not looking forward to breaking the news to him. We looked inside and out but no luck. We eventually had to give up the search to get ready for work. I made posters at school and went during my conference to Prairie Paws to fill out a lost pet form. While I was there, I had a look around. When will I ever learn? I am such an animal lover that I wanted to take most of them home. But Chris and I had decided that when Daisy and Fat Cat go to the big littler box in the sky that we will not get more cats since we are both allergic to them. I just wasn't ready to be one cat short yet. When I got home from school, still not a sign of her. We went for a family walk around the block and handed out fliers to our neighbors and calling Fat Cat's name, but still no sign of her. We had dinner and then watch some of our shows until it was time for Keegan's shower. While Keegan and Chris were in the shower, I went out side with a flashlight to our neighbor's yard. Becky, who is Keegan's sitter, is also our neighbor. She called to say that her husband had heard cats fighting outside their kitchen window the night before. I head over to that side of there house to look around but no luck. I head back to our house to get Keegan dried off and ready for bed. After we are in our jammies, we go back into the living room for Keegan's last bottle and more shows. Chris cracks the garage door so that if she comes home during the night, she can come into the garage and be safe. After a while, I notice that Daisy is sniffing the bottom of the door to the garage. I ask Chris to check it out since she never does that. He opens the door and there, on the top step, is our beloved Fat Cat. The dogs think that there is someone at the back door so they start barking which spooks her. Chris closes the garage door so she cannot get out again, and he puts the dogs in the back room. We get her in and she is such a sight. Her white fur is all grey and dirty. We have to give her a bath after Keegan goes to bed. That's when we realize how tired she is because she really doesn't struggle during the bath. We get her out and dry her off and she immediately heads for the food bowl. That night, she comes in and get cosy between Chris and I. She doesn't stop purring all night. She is so happy to be home! And we are happy, too! We never had to tell Trey she was gone. She slept most of the weekend from all of her adventures. Chris said that it is now Neil's turn to go on an overnight adventure since he is the only one of the four that has not run away. Personally, I don't think that is going to happen since he doesn't stray far from us. He really doesn't like going outside unless one of us gives him a treat to go!