That story reminded me of Rascal - a few years ago I was getting ready for a meeting that was an hour's drive from home. I always do a head count before leaving home for the better part of the day, and I absolutely could not find her. I woke my husband and he helped me look and NOTHING ! I left for my meeting in tears. Turned out the meeting was cancelled and no one told me. Turned right around and headed back home, bawling all the way thinking Rascal had gotten outside somehow. They are not outdoor cats at all and it was in the dead middle of winter and that can easily be Zero degrees - I live in Minnesota. We hunted high and low in the house and concluded she really did get outside, so I opened my sock drawer to put on extra warm socks for the trek out there, and lo and behold, there was Rascal in my sock drawer !!! (she might've been meowing while we were looking for her, I don't know for sure, we are both hard-of-hearing.)