I’m on my way out to work and I can’t find my house keys. It’s not on top of my cabinet, not on the boyfriend’s tabletop, not on the kitchen table. I flip my handbags upside down, spilling all the contents on to my bed – nothing.
I have a sinking feeling I know where I last left my keys.
I take out my phone and hit the last dialed number.
“Drea did you see my house keys?”
“Uhh… no, why?”
“I can’t find them… but I think it’s inside my car.” Which is parked outside. Which I can’t get to because I don't have the keys to the grill gates.
I take a deep breath and try not to freak out at the thought of missing the all-important agency meeting held every Monday morning.
“Ohh. Maybe you can get out from the back? But you’d need the padlock key too…”
“There’s no extra key?”
“Nole... I’ll come back now ok. Just keep looking for it.”
“But aren’t you at work?”
“I’ll clock in first.”
I was contemplating the idea of breaking the glass doors when the boyfriend calls to inform that he’s asked Johnny, who lives down the road, to come and get the keys from my car.
“Open the car door for him ya.”
I wait anxiously in front of the front door, scouting the streets for Johnny. He walks into sight, still in his sleepwear I presume, his eyes squinting in the morning sun as he figures out a way to climb over the fence. I beep the car doors open.
“It’s in the middle compartment,” I call out as he reaches inside the car.
He unhooks the padlock and let me out. I thank him gratefully albeit a little hurriedly, feeling guilty for bothering him when he was obviously still in bed a few minutes ago.
Thinking about this while inching my way past rush hour traffic, I wonder how is it that the boyfriend could come up with such a logical and effective solution that seems so obvious after it happened, while all I could think of is ridiculous ideas of morphing myself into water like Alex Mack to slither past the gates or climbing out from my bedroom windows and jump to a soft landing of concrete and car metal.
I probably should get a better grip of myself before I hit the panic button.
