Beverly-To Be Fair...

Well, Ally is bribing me to post again so I thought I would tell ya'll a little story about my own stupidity. I have a 99 Toyota Avalon, that I LOVE, that has all the bells and whistles including keyless entry. So, the other day I'm leaving the grocery store and I unlock the doors with the remote and open the rear passenger door to put my 3 year old daughter in her carseat. I dropped my purse, keys and purchases in the front passenger seat while I strapped her in, tightly. This was a fatal error. As I shut the door, I heard the most heart-dropping sound a mother who never wants to appear incompetent or STUPID, could hear. ALL four doors of my beloved car LOCKING.

As I suppressed the urge to vomit and hide, I thought, It's OK. She gets out of her carseat all the time. I'll just talk to her through the completely closed window and tell her to get out of her seatbelt and unlock the door for mommy. This will not cost me $100 to a locksmith and we will be on our way in no time. So, I press my hands and face as close to the glass I can get(so passerbys don't hear me begging my kid to open the door for her stupid mother) and I proceed to beg her to undo her seatbelt and unlock the door for mommy. A little history on her. She gets out of her seatbelt ALL THE TIME. However, today her super powers were diminished by the bronchitis running through her body which would rear it's ugly head later that afternoon in the form of a 100 degree fever and a horrible, hacking cough.

So after about 10 minutes of pleading with her, she decides to stop making eye contact with me! Nothing could make her look my way. Not promises of McDonald's, ice cream or candy. Nothing. She was officially ignoring the crazy woman desperately knocking on the window, right next to her HEAD. Then, guess what. She starts to go to SLEEP!

By this time I realize that reinforcments are needed. I try my darling baby brother, the world's greatest mechanic, who had the day off and had no luck. Then I returned my friend Christy's call and asked her if she would like to join me in the parking lot (hopefully distracting the passerbys by making them think I meant to be standing outside of my car.) She, being the sweetie she is, gasped in horror and then laughed at me. So, who do I call next? My accountant, of course! "Hi Ray. I'm going to be late today. Yeah, Shaylah is locked in my car with the keys and I can't get in." So he, being the intelligent man he is says, "Well, why don't you call 911? Your child is locked inside the car." Oh the genius of some people.

So I put in the call and in my most sheepish of voices asked the kind woman on the other end to please send some help. I knew the response time would not be long as the fire station was less than 1/2 a mile down the road. Sure enough, 60 seconds later, I can hear them coming. Why could I hear them? Because they had all lights and sirens blaring. All of them.

The one time I want no attention called to myself, I get it all. So, from the 1 police car and the biggest engine in the fire company, 8 people pour out. One guy had what looked like 10 or 12 straigtened wire coat hangers in his hand. I was a little unimpressed with his equipment but who was I to judge. I'm sure they unlock lots of car doors using those little wires everyday. I'm sure I'm not the only stupid person out there that locks their kid in the car. So he starts working at the drivers side door while everyone else stands around and watches him struggle.

Then, out of the corner of my eye, my savior! My white knight! A gentleman carring a long, zippered bag containing the miracle tool that will free my child from the clutches of my car. He swoops in with a hurried, " S'cuse me miss." and unzips the bag and pulls out a neon yellow rod, specially bent on both end, along with a plastic wedge to pry open the top of the door and an inflatable heavy-duty rubber thingie to hold the door open further. After a few attempts with the rod(and the alarm going off) he opens the door and I swoop in tho get my baby to comfort her. She is emotionless. She just did not care what was going on. I was more upset by this than she ever will be.

So, later on that day I baked the folks over there at the station an apple cake with carmel sauce and dropped it off. The lesson to be learned in all of this is this- If your are going to lock your keys in the car, make sure your child is also in there as to avoid a hefty fee charged by a locksmith.