Missing Ball thingy

Neil Matterson is a pro cartoonist with a regular op/ed gig in Brisbane's Sunday Mail. His beautifully constructed weekly cartoon nearly always includes an object I call a 'Ball thingy' (actually a used tennis ball?) which other 'tooning colleagues and I often 'rag' him about when it either fails to appear or is really difficult for ageing eyes to readily detect. Today's effort omits the ball, but includes a small wall hanging that has a tiny rendition of the yellow object together with the single word 'LOST'!

This subterfuge shall not go unchallenged. I envisage multitudes of despairing readers clubbing together to relieve their favorite 'toony's anguish by gathering and donating every used ball they can find in the vicinity of their dwellings!