today began with a text message. from bob henry. at 6:36 in the morning (thanks, buddy). the text instructed me to call this number: (603) 413-4133. i did. that, my friends, is the foreshadowing to what i fear will be a very very bad day.
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at approx. 7:30, we realized that wren wasn't in the yard. isaac is here, both gates are shut and locked/latched. the best we could come up with is that he went over the fence and she finally had enough height/strength/courage to follow. he came back, like he always does...she didn't. so, from then 'til now, i've been combing the neighborhood, distributing my scribbled name and number on various bits of paper from my glove-box. and praying, i've been doing a lot of that.
honestly, when the school crossing guard told me that he hadn't seen her (he had been out since 6:45-ish), my mind was fixed on this course: she was out with isaac in the wee hours of the morning until a random car/truck drove by and she left him to chase it. she chased the car until it stopped, probably by the railroad tracks. from then, who knows? the tracks are relatively quiet most of the time, she could follow them all the way to miami. more likely though, she got distracted from the car by some early-morning joggers and bolted. i've driven (on- and off-road) that whole stretch of highway, looking for her on the ground...but i can't find her. if she got hit, she would have tried to run into the brush for cover - there's no way i can comb all that. if she didn't get hit, she's still tracking somewhere. every night, we run her at least 4 miles, and she's still got energy after that. if she's gone 4 miles in any direction except northwest, she's lost. the likelihood of her going northwest is slim to nil - she would have to pass a house that she's very afraid of...
(sigh) it's all speculation at this point. is she dead, is she alive, is she free, does someone have her, is she locked up in a shelter somewhere... i have no clue. the best thing i can figure to do at this point is to get on with my day. if she's dead on the ground in the brush somewhere, i won't be able to find her. i'll check for buzzards later and maybe they'll show me. if she's hurt, i still can't find her. if someone has her, my going around in circles in the neighborhood isn't going to bring her back. if she's free-trackin'...geez. all i can hope for is that someone is able to catch her before she gets hit.
so... i'm going to print a couple of pics of her, take them to animal care and control, the city of boynton beach and the dome. if she's not in any of those places, i'm going to get my grocery shopping done. when i leave the house, i'll keep the gate open. maybe she'll come back on her own.
