How to make... Part II

I really didn't comprehend what had happened and why I couldn't open the car door...

I stood there in shock as the realization hit me that I had just chosen the worst snow storm of my life to lock my keys in my car... with the engine running.

As I thought back about the button click I had heard earlier, understanding and utter despair washed over me. All I wanted to do was hit the UNDO button... but unfortunately, that option only exists for small mistakes in the world of paper-writing.

I repeatedly pulled at multiple door handles, willing them to open, kind of like when you watch Titanic and can't help but hope that this time it won't sink.

When I had finally accepted my fate, I called my dad (yes, miraculously my phone was in my coat pocket instead of in my backpack locked in the back seat of my car) and he gave me the number for AAA, which I didn't have because it was locked in my car.

After being passed around to different AAA operators (because my 408 area code automatically routed me to California, which wasn't going to help), I finally submitted my request for assistance and they had no time estimate for me. The weather was terrible and even if no one else was in need of assistance, it was difficult to determine how long travel would take.

I called my roommate in hopes that I might be able to guide her in the search for my extra car keys (which I haven't seen since I moved in January)... I even called a random friend who seems to have odd talents on the off chance that he might be able to break into my car for me...

Having no luck talking with anything but voicemail services, I decided it was time to admit defeat and abandon my car. It really felt like I was abandoning my poor Jackie as I walked back to the school building, ice scraper still in hand. I showed up in the school commons and explained my predicament with a shrug of my shoulders and a courtesy laugh, and they all looked almost as shocked and concerned as I felt.

To kill time, I walked with a friend to find lunch in another building and spent much of the time in line on the phone giving my roommate suggestions about where she might find my keys (knowing full well that I wasn't going to let her drive all the way up to school in the snow even if she found them).

Back in the Commons, it was suggested that I call Campus Police, but I had no idea that they could help me with this sort of thing. But, given the fact that my car had been running for an hour and there was no sign of AAA, I thought it was worth a shot and called the Operator.

Hearing, "You silly, silly girl..." from the Operator in response to my drama-laden tale was shocking, but oddly comforting... calming. She told me that she would send someone over to the building to pick me up, so I waited some more.

By the time the AAA guy called me, it had been almost 2 hours. We miscommunicated on the phone several times before we both ended up at my car. But, by the time I hung up with the Campus Operator (having been informed that Campus Police had shown up just as I was leaving the building to meet up with AAA), my car door was open and the AAA guy was getting back into his truck.

I thanked him profusely, and cautiously, almost suspiciously, sat down in the driver's seat. It was so strange to think that Jackie had been running for 2 hours without me.

My windshield was very clean, and I couldn't help being amused that if nothing else the 2 hours of melting had successfully freed my wipers, making everything once again visible through my windshield.

As I slowly drove home, occasionally sliding in the slushy snow where a road hadn't been plowed, I felt exhausted but happy, and I couldn't quite figure out why. Regardless of the many frustrations I was facing, the snow was beautiful, my midterm had been postponed, and it was Spring Break, so what did it matter?