When It's All Locked Up Inside

Almost three years ago, my husband wisely invested in AAA coverage and motorist assistance. I concurred with his reasoning since we had three daughters, and two of them were of driving age, it would be a good thing to do. Who knows how many times they may lock their keys in the car, run out of gas, have a flat tire? It's good to know they can get help when they need it. Yep, good for the daughters to have it.

So, now I need to stop beating around the bush and relate to you that in the past two and a half years, I have been the only one to need to call AAA -- both times because I locked my keys in the car! The first time was when we first moved into the house we are in now. That wasn't a big deal. I was still in town. But the most recent one was this past Friday night on the way back from my daughter's volleyball game. I was traveling to my parent's mountain house from the game and had stopped to gas up for an unbelievable and irresistible price of $2.69 per gallon!! I took my keys out of the ignition, laid them down on the seat while I got out my debit card, and then got out of the car, locked the door, and that is when the metal of the keys caught my eye!

You know how that goes. I'm closing the door as I'm seeing the keys and my brain was shouting, "Keys inside on seat!! Keys not in your hand!" However, the connectors between my brain and body just do not function as they did when I was younger. So, I'm standing outside my car at a gas pump in the middle of a very small town at 9:30 at night. I have a Triple A card, so no problem there. The problem was WHERE the card was at that moment. Inside the locked car.

The Exxon station happened to be staffed that night by two good "ole" boys. They allowed me to make a long distance call from their station phone and then proceeded to brag about the 58 different ways they could get my keys out of the car if I needed backup! All of them included a bit of violent measures and inevitably would cause some kind of harm to the car itself. One and a half hours later (because the local AAA locksmith/wrecker service was not answering the phone), a capable and qualified locksmith showed up with his toupee stuck haphazardly on his head, but his trusty tools in his hand. It took him short of 20 seconds to have the door opened and the illusive keys in my hands!

My impulse was to hug him, I was so relieved to be back inside my comfort zone, but I restrained myself. It was indeed a night of driving magic, because an hour later, just four miles from my parents' mtn. house, I sat another hour on the side of a mountain waiting for an accident to be cleared up. At 1:30 a.m. I arrived at the mountain house. Just like old times, my mom was waiting up for me! The only difference was this time I was glad she did!