I never said he was smart.

Earl is sweet. And funny. And loving. But he's not bright.

Yesterday morning, I got up and started getting The Geej's supplies ready for school. It was about 6:15am. After a while, I realized that I didn't know where Earl was. I looked for him, shook the treat can, called for him, but no dice. So I had to leave for work without knowing where he was.
When I got home at about 5:30, he still was nowhere to be found, and the food hadn't been touched, which is VERY unusual to say the least. Again, I called and looked for him in every possible hiding place where he could have squeezed his fat ass, but he wasn't anywhere.
I started to get worried. Was he sick? Had I actually let him out, but because of my motherhood-induced senility, I couldn't even remember it? It was really beginning to freak me out. And to make matters worse, it was raining outside, which he absolutely hates.
So last night, I'm washing dishes, and getting ready to watch "The Daily Show," when I hear the faint jingle of his collar. I went and looked for him, but didn't see him. I started washing dishes again, and "jingle-jingle." I stopped and looked outside for him. But there was no Earl. I began to think I was really losing my mind. I opened up the lower cabinet to put some Tupperware away and, lo and behold, there he was, purring but blinky from being locked in a dark cabinet for about 16 hours.
The only thing I can figure is that, waaaaaaaay earlier that morning when I'd been putting away dishes I'd washed the night before, he'd slipped into the cabinet without me noticing. That in and of itself is kind of hard to believe because, in addition to being sort of dumb, he's also not stealthy or graceful.
After he emerged, he immediately went to the food bowl and scarfed. Then went to the litter box and did some major damage. The stupidest thing about all of this is if he'd just meowed--just once--while I was in the kitchen (which was a lot, both yesterday morning and last night), I could've let him out. He heard me calling him. He heard me shaking his treat can. He heard me standing there washing dishes. But he just sat there in the dark, waiting for the door to open. My sweet, dumb baby.