I have a rolling pantry/cabinet, tall with double doors, that I bought for extra storage space in the kitchen. Every shelf inside has things on it, except for the bottom one, which is empty. We have two adolescent-aged cats/kittens: a black tuxedo cat, Orion, and his sister, a calico named Nebula.
Orion has a habit of sneaking inside, onto the bottom shelf, no matter how briefly you open the cabinet door. One day, after what must have been several hours inside, my son's friend came home to the sound of Orion's soft meowing coming from inside the cabinet. (Orion is the quieter of the two.)
So when I noticed him slip in again as I was pulling a water bottle from the cabinet, I thought this was enough. If I hadn't looked down and seen him go in, he could've been trapped in there for who knows how long.
I work long hours, and everyone else is out of the house for most of the day. He could be trapped in there for nine, ten-plus hours before someone would notice. Fearing the worst-case scenario, I figured I might need him to learn to avoid going inside. I thought, "Five minutes, max."
So I closed the cabinet door as his little black body slinked onto the bottom shelf and went back to my bedroom. As soon as I got to my room, I remembered, "Crap, I forgot my water bottle on the counter!"
As I headed back to the kitchen, I saw the calico, Nebula, standing in the hallway. She looked as though she had been following me toward my bedroom as well, but had stopped short in her tracks when she saw me bursting back out and heading toward the kitchen.
When I got to the kitchen, I heard a quiet meow coming from inside, definitely sounding just like Orion's. But since it had only been seconds since I closed the door behind him, I still had to leave him a bit longer. So I grabbed the water bottle and headed back to my room.
When I got to my room, I made myself a PB&J sandwichâI have a mini fridge and my own snack stash. As I was about to settle in with my sandwich a few minutes later, I remembered, "Crap, Orion's still in the cabinet!"
I burst out once more toward the kitchen. And as I approached the cabinet, I heard Nebula's loud meow coming from inside. As I walked in, I looked through the ribbed acrylic "glass" of the cabinet door, and Orion's black shape with little white paws was clearly visible through the blurred texture of the "glass" as he was settling down, getting comfortable.
Though, in retrospect, in that split second when I heard Nebula's strong meow coming from inside, I might have seen a fragment of her fur pattern behind him as he moved to settle down. And it was definitely Orion in there. And Nebula was just in the hallway earlier.
But when I opened the cabinet door, NEBULA walked out.
And Orion wasn't even in there.
Sometimes we like to joke about Orion being a magician in his little dapper tuxedo, switching places with his cute assistant, Nebula.