2003-03-18 - 5:29 p.m.
KEYS, GLORIOUS KEYS
�Why are the chair cushions all over the living room?� asked Day-Hay. I thought about an answer. �Well,� I wanted to tell her. �While I was out some burglar broke in, tossed the cushions about looking for old Cheerios, and left when he couldn�t find them.� But I didn�t. �Well,� I wanted to tell her. �Some witch came in looking for the perfect chair and, when she didn�t find it, she used her magic to trash the living room.� But I didn�t. I told her the truth�and the truth was far less interesting. What she was seeing was the aftermath of the most panicked key hunt I have experienced to date.
This afternoon, Kat had an audition downtown for the company class of a theater academy. Her audition was promptly at 4:00 p.m. and ever since they tore down a highway spur in a fit of desire for civic development, traffic to downtown has been unpredictable. Sometimes travel to downtown in the afternoon is easy. Sometimes traffic actually stops�which for a city that considers highway traffic traveling under 30 mph to be a bad traffic jam is a new and unpleasant experience.
We planned to leave in plenty of time so she could get her bearings and be relaxed. We had our coats. We had our shoes. I had my purse but........I couldn�t find my keys. I searched all the usual places. They were not in my purse, not even in the unlikely compartments. They were not on the island in the kitchen. They were not in my coat pocket, on the table, by the computer, in the bathroom, on the dresser, in the other bathroom, in the garbage (or at least not visible there), over the other side of the railing where I usually throw my coat, or on the white table in the living room.
I looked. Kat looked. I was beginning to panic. She had an audition and I could not drive her because I had no keys. I checked the clock. Mr. Philately could never make it home and back downtown on time. I started tossing the cushions to the couch. I started tossing the cushions to the chairs. Still no keys.
What was I going to do? They had to be somewhere in the house. I had needed to use them to get in. But I hadn�t left them in the door. They had to be somewhere. They HAD to be. The clock was ticking.
I had looked in the pocket of my jeans jacket. They weren�t in my front pockets of my pants either. And then, in despair, I bumped up against the wall. There was something uncomfortable in my back pocket. I HAD THEM! I HAD MY KEYS!
Keys, glorious keys! We still had time. We still could make it. I promised myself to put my keys away from this day forward, got in the car, and went to Kat�s audition. I couldn�t hear all of it but what I heard was good. We came home and I put my keys....I put my keys....I put my keys.
Well, at least I know they�re not under the cushions.
LAST YEAR: Honoring Claude
LAST FIVE ENTRIES:
Keeping Above Water
Cooler By the Lake
Waiting Time
Being My Parents
Talking Cars
previous - next
|
Copyright 2006 by Ellen |
