in the blink of an eye

 Shortly after I got home from work yesterday, an older neighbor came by to ask if we had a fluffy black cat. I said no, but Dianne does. Well, there's a large, energetic dog on the next street and I guess he grabbed this cat and swung it around; the cat got away, ran around our forsythia hedge beside the house, but this dog got him again. He escaped a second time, but then our neighbor lost sight of him. He was yelling at the dog to let it go, and so was its owner, who felt pretty bad about the whole business. I ran over to Dianne's and told her husband - she was in the shower. I quickly fed our kitties and went out; Bill and Dianne appeared shortly after. This was an hour before dark.

We wandered around the back yard for at least thirty minutes, Dianne calling him. There are so many fallen leaves under every bush, making a search more difficult; we tried to figure out where he would have headed - this is impossible. We didn't see a body anywhere, we heard no cries. How could he have survived such an attack? It must be that he didn't, poor creature. 

Dianne is pretty philosophical about her cats, we've noticed. When my brother found Yogi had been hit by a car, and brought the body to Dianne's, she didn't cry. She has so many animals, she's seen it before so often. But if only we could find him, at least they could bury him.

I was thinking of how little I know my neighbors, and that it was good for us all to be looking for this cat together, trying to help, even though the circumstances were so unfortunate.