A few years ago I published a series of true, funny and sometimes painful stories from my childhood. After reading from the Ballad of Mister Fun this morning about his “Car Keys? Overrated” story, a memory was jogged
A few years ago when my youngest was still bound by the State to be harnessed into a safety seat I had suffered from a lapse in smarts.
We made a field trip to the market to do the weekly shopping. Before I went in, I called my wife to see if there was anything that she needed special. While I was talking to her, I turned the engine off, and set the ignition to accessory to listen to some background music. As I amended my list, my son was strapped in the 5 point harness…he was 3 years old at the time, and could not get himself out.
After I had my marching orders, I got out a the car, locked the door, closed it and in a split second realized that I’ve just locked my kid in the car, with the keys in the ignition. The good thing was that there were some cool tunes on the radio. The bad thing was that it was a warm morning, and the windows were all rolled up.
The saving grace was that I remembered to take the cell phone with me, so I had a line of communication. Did I panic?…not really, I could talk to him and see that he was fine, but he was starting to freak a little.
My first call: to my wife. Fess up to it right away. After a few minutes, she decided and I agreed that she could come out with her keys. The problem…she was 30-40 minutes away.
My second call: The SD Sheriff. The call went a little like this
Me: my name is Eric, and I’ve locked my son in my van in the Vons Parking Lot on Camino.
Dispatcher: is your son OK?
Me: yep, he’s starting to get a little freaky.
Dispatcher: Hold while I connect you to the Lakeside Fire Department
A short pause then
New Dispatcher: Lakeside Fire, What’s your emergency?
Me: (Again) my name is Eric, and I’ve locked my son in my van in the Vons Parking Lot on Camino.
New Dispatcher: What’s your location?
Me: Vons Parking Lot on Camino.
New Dispatcher: What’s the Address?
Me: can’t tell, I don’t see the marquis, and I don’t want to leave my kid.
New Dispatcher: We need an address
Me to a passing stranger: Can you go over to the side of the building and get the address for me? It’s a matter of life and death
Stranger from across the lot: yells the number
Me to the Dispatcher: here’s the address
New Dispatcher: We’ll have a truck out to you shortly.
Me: can you do me a favor and be discrete? No sirens or lights
New Dispatcher: we will respond in an appropriate manor. Please stay on the line till they arrive.
Me: sure
About 2 minutes later I heard the familiar sound of sirens approaching. Great I’m thinking. As they pulled up the grade to the lot, 2 trucks turned off their sirens and I waved them in.
As they pulled up, I could hear my son saying “daddy, daddy, daddy get me outta here…ooooh fire truck. Cool!”
About 10 firefighters went to work on the wagon with wedges, slim Jims, and lock picks. There was a guy waiting there with an axe just in case. About 10 minutes into the extraction the sheriff pulled up.
Sheriff: “You Eric?”
Me: “yep, I feel like a freaking idiot”
Firefighter: Chiming in “Dude, we do this thing almost every day.”
Sheriff: “I need to take some info…its standard stuff”
Me: “Are you going to throw me in the poky?”
Sheriff: “Depends on the outcome”
Me: Nice
A few minutes later the fire chief came by and said” if we can’t get the doors open, we’ll break in one of the windows. Which one you want to go?”
Just then my wife pulled up with the other set of keys and the door was opened and my son was taken out of the car. He was a little hot, but ok.
To this day my son refers to that day with this line: “daddy, daddy, daddy get me outta here…ooooh fire truck. Cool!”
For more True Stories click below
True Story I Sad But True little league story
True Story II Some Irony
True Story III Spontaneous Combustion (funny)
True Story IV How I met my Wife
True Story V Blue Ribbon Brownies
