Everyone keeps asking about my cat lately. My boss even asked me how is my kid doing. She thinks I have a kid cause I was standing next to someone�s stack of diapers and thought it was mine. I then told her yeah he�s almost nine months old and a red head.

My kid is also furry and meows a lot.

Gizmo would be almost one year old by now. I remember picking him up and driving him back home. On the car ride home he laid between my neck and the car�s headrest, totally calm and sleeping. That later became his favorite place to sleep, especially when I wore hooded sweatshirts. Even when he was full grown he�d sit on my shoulder like a parrot.

The cat had to be the world�s most reliant feline. Unless I am actually at work (and it amazes me how he knows that) he could not be away from me for more then five minutes. God help you if you close the door between us, unless you really want to hear him whine until someone opens it.

I think my favorite thing about Gizmo was that in the mornings he would always wake me up at nine am sharp. He would snug his head on my shoulder and start pawing my face until I start petting him. We then would sleep like that until I actually had to be awake for something productive. It�s like he�s trying to convince me to call in sick for work or something and stay home. It worked.

During the holiday time I was away a lot since my workload doubled. Gizmo was getting all kinds of clever and found any number of ways to get out of the house. I would come home and he'd run back inside with me. Later I realized he was at the neighbor�s house were most of the cats in the neighborhood are in the daytime. Gizmo had cat friends! It became more of a routine for him to go out and come back whenever he needed food or love.

One day I came back from work and he was waiting for me by the doorstep. He had been gone for almost two nights and slept the entire time he was back. Gizmo never left my sight that night. He slept on my lap and later on between my left arm and my chest. He purred all night long and again woke me up at nine am.

That was the last time I saw Gizmo. He wasn't here when I got home from work that day. I never saw him again. This was almost two months ago. My roommates on occasions say they see him running around in the neighborhood. Two nights ago my roommate�s boyfriend knocked my door.

�We think Gizmo�s outside�

I ran outside. I guess he already ran away. It was raining and dark. The flashlight didn�t help either. I left a can of cat food out there.