GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE

It started innocently at first. I just went out in the morning to read at the table in my back yard for a while as I had my coffee. It was a lovely sunny morning. I slept in kind of late. I was supposed to pick Jami up for a movie, but I had some time to relax. I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet. I was in my coffee cup print, flannel pajama bottoms, a brown tank top, a worn out, stained, gray zip up sweatshirt, bright orange baseball cap partially hiding my greasy hair. I had grabbed my watch so I could watch the time as I had to be somewhere.

That morning I had made a particularly good pot of coffee and I was reading a really good book with my wonderful dog lying beside me. I have to admit I was focused only on the pleasure of the moment. I don’t even know how long it took or why out of the blue I realized it, with a start, a random thought in the middle of the chapter. Suddenly I leapt from my chair, dug fervently through all two of my pockets only to rediscover what I already knew. NO KEYS!!!!!

I live in a security building. Doors automatically lock behind you. So I immediately ran around to the front door and proceeded to ring the doorbells one by one. Then again…again….again..again.againagainagain….did I mention the pot of coffee on an empty stomach. Hmm, no one home.

So, being the quick minded person I am I went back to the back yard to stew. Alas what shall I do? It turns out that I live in a fairly well populated area with stores and stuff. So I figured I would use the phone at the bike shop next door. So I grabbed Abbey’s collar (as I had no leash, no phone and no money as well as no keys) and made my way from my yard across the small parking lot to the bike shop. Abbey is not a large dog but neither is she a convenient carrying size so when leading her by the collar I am uncomfortably hunched over. That was until she put on the breaks and refused to move another step. I was forced to carry her the rest of the way and struggled (no one came to help me) to open the door and stepped into the store with an oversized dog in my arms. I backed myself right out after I saw several faces staring at me with “looney-woman-comin’-through-everybody-run” looks mixed with pity.

I decided to try my luck next door at the record shop. I rarely see people in there. The young man took real pity on me and allowed us in to use the phone. I had to call work to get Jami’s number. In this day of cell phone memories I need no memory of my own. I finally had Jami on the phone and told her my plight and after several minutes of delightful laughter on her end she agreed to come rescue us. I just needed a place to be that has a bathroom until my building mates start getting home from work maybe around five.

Abbey and I returned to the back yard (which isn’t nearly as pleasant as it was earlier) to await Jami’s arrival. But what did we see as we came around the building? The Yard Guy! Like a bright shiny beacon in the middle of a dark storm. The Yard Guy would have the building owner’s number! Yay! We were saved; there was hope for a shower yet! Abbey and I ran over to welcome him to the yard. Well I wanted to welcome him Abbey pretended to want to tear him to pieces. He said he did have the landlord’s number as the landlord had just called him on his cell phone yesterday and he had his cell phone with him at the moment. Oh yes! “Ok” he says “I just have to figure out how to retrieve the number.” as he pulled out his older model cell phone. The kind that doesn’t tell you what the keys are for. After several minutes of deliberation and one phone call to his daughter (who gave him the phone) for instructions we were no closer to entry than before. We could not retrieve the number. Alas…But Wait! He said he could run home and get it off of his computer! He lived less than a block away! (He has a wonderful yard filled with bright flowers.)

Jami arrived at the front just as The Yard Guy was leaving by the alley. We put Abbey in Jami’s car so she no longer tried to eat The Yard Guy and I caught her up on the events since I spoke with her. Then we waited….and we waited…and we, oh here he came, paper in hand, he unnecessarily apologized for his slow computer. He breathlessly dialed the number and handed the phone to me. As I listened to the ringing I composed my message hoping he’d come let me in sooner than five. But he answered! This is good. I explained to him my predicament and he reminded me that there was a lock box on the front door, of course! All I needed was the code! I kept him on the phone while I punched in the code, before I knew it there was a key in my hand and I unlocked the door to my building! Yay! I thanked my landlord and The Yard Guy. Jami was allowed to return home until I picked her up in twenty minutes, we still had a movie to see. I did not get my shower until several hours later.

There were many heroes for me that day. The Record Store Guy, The Yard Guy, My Landlord, and Jami. I am grateful for all of them. But not the people in the bike shop. They were not my heroes.