An Adventure

On Thursday, we got the sad news that Samantha Wollbrink's grandmother had passed away. The funeral was today, and Mom and I decided to go. Dad and Richmond had to help out with a work day at church, so we 'girls' were all alone when the funeral service ended and Mom had the sickening realization that she had locked her keys in the car! We called Dad's cell phone repeatedly...no answer. Apparently, Dad had left his phone in the truck. We called Papo, and he agreed to come out and pick us up. So, while everyone else left to attend the graveside ceremony, Mom and I stood by our little Scion, eyes strained for the first sight of Papo's car. Minutes dragged past. People drove up and stared at us as they stopped at the intersection. Our position was begginning to get uncomfortable when Mom saw a man pulling into the fire station across the street.

"That guy looks like Joel. Maybe the fire department can get our door open." She said.

I had already suggested that we seek help at the fire station, but my idea hadn't been given much consideration before now.

The fireman was delighted at the idea of trying out his door-unlocking skills. He and his friend came over with their tools and got to work. They pried the door open wide enough to insert a flexible wire, but didn't have any success in getting the door unlocked. Seemingly, our car has some security features that we didn't know about.

After a lot of fruitless fishing around with their wire, the firemen decided that they should call in the cops. While we were waiting for our re-enforcements, a man from the funeral home came out and began to poke around the car, pulling on door handles in an effort to be helpful.

The graveside service was over by this time, and the Teeters came back to the funeral home to see if we'd gotten the car open yet. Alan had a go at the door, but with no success. By this time, we had gathered quite an audience. Papo had arrived, and was worrying that the wire would scratch up our car. I was freezing cold, but wasn't about to leave the scene of action. The Teeter children were watching the proceedings with interest, and the man from the funeral home was still standing around, perhaps thinking that he would encourage us with his presence, or maybe this was just a spot of color in his otherwise dull day.

Papo, in fear that our car would be scratched beyond repair, finally decided to drive me back to the house for our extra set of car keys. We were about five minutes down the road when we got a call from Mom. The door was unlocked. A cop had arrived and somehow managed to pull Mom's purse out from underneath the car seat. He unzipped it, hooked his wire through the key ring, and pulled the keys out through the crack in the door. I am very grateful to him, but can't help thinking, "I sure hope he doesn't decide to take up burglary!"