Monday, May 4, 2009

Breaking Window Avoided

Last week we made a quick trip to Penneys.
As I loaded Carson in the car to leave, he whined until I gave him the car clicker (or FOB as J calls it)--I gave it to him, as always.
Tossed my purse in the front and went around to open my door. Locked.
It took me a second to realize what happened. I was locked out, my purse was in the front seat, my baby in the back. Windows were rolled up.
First signs of panic. Heart is racing. Beginning to sweat. My baby is locked in the car. He still has the clicker and from experience I know that it would take the jaws of life to pry it from his hands...he will not let go of it.
I start to try to communicate through the window to my 15 month old to press the right button. He laughs.. he thinks I am making faces at him.
A lady parks by us and makes eye contact. She sees my panic that I am trying to hide.
"Did you lock yourself out of the car?"
I explain. She offers to wait with him while I go into Penneys to call someone. What choice to I have? My biggest fear at the moment is that he will start to cry and I can't get to him. Also, the car is pretty warm.
The Penneys associates at the front of the store are not helpful. They have 12 phones up there and say I need to run all the way back to customer service to use one. I have told them my dilemma. They reemphasize I need to go back to customer service. This puts a distance between me and my child in the parking lot that makes me nervous. No time to punch a sales associate in the face so I run to the back of the store.
I am told to wait even though I say I have an emergency. She says it will be a few minutes. I am seconds away from jumping over the counter and flattening some bangs that are way to high to start with. However, when I explain my emergency she immediately gives me the phone and leaves her customer for two seconds. It may be the look on his face that caused her to react. I think he was ready to grab the phone and hand it to me. After all, he was just placing a catalog order and my child is stuck in a locked car.
Justin doesn't answer. Three tries. I call his grandma's. He is there. He says it will take him an hour to go home, get the spare, and drive there. Way too long. I tell him I am calling the police.
An employee runs through the store at that moment. "Your baby just unlocked the car!" She is elated. She had not been up at the front originally. I am grateful for her and the way she is running shows me she cares.
Those were the best six words of my month. I run outside.
My original angel is by the car with the door open. She says she almost took him out to find me but realized if we missed each other I would really freak out. She waited until someone else parked and had them go tell a sales associate.
I am so grateful! Apparently she heard the door click and grabbed it very quickly. Smart thinking.
Carson has this smug look like he knew what was going on the whole time. He thinks he pulled the best joke ever.
No clicker, FOB or whatever you want to call it for Carson anymore! His privilege has been revoked permanently!
All is well that ends well.

2 comments:

Jill said...

Oh my goodness, that makes me so nervous just reading it... glad to hear that it all ended well.

Patty said...

scary stuff, huh?
what a wise and wonderful new friend that looked after your baby boy.
"Be kind to strangers, lest we entertain angels unaware." Uh-huh!