I was just reminded of an incident that happened to me many years ago.
In 1995 my mother spent months in the hospital to be treated for a bad heart condition. That same year, I had taken a job with Holiday Inn at their corporate headquarters in Atlanta. I managed to fly to Detroit every so often to visit my mother in hospital.
By December, things looked grim. My mother's health was deteriorating, and I knew it would not be long before she would leave us. My sister called to ask me to return to Detroit. So, I dropped off the animals at the kennel and flew Delta back to my hometown.
One evening after a visit while walking back to the car in the parking lot, an older man approached me and asked whether I had a lighter. A smoker at the time, of course I had a lighter! He explained that he could not unlock his vehicle and believed the lock to be frozen. I walked with him to his car. He showed me how the lock would not open. Lighting the lighter, he began to heat the car lock. However, after several attempts, his key still would not unlock the door.
The man then sheepishly asked whether I could drive to his home where he had a butane torch that would surely unfreeze the lock. It was Christmastime and this man’s wife was in a similar situation to my mother’s. How could I not oblige his simple request? We hopped into my car and drove a few miles to his home. With torch in hand, we returned to the hospital parking lot.
I was a little nervous about his use of a torch on the car. Afterall, it would be easy to scar the door while trying to unfreeze the lock. But it wasn’t my car. After spending some time torching the lock while failing to successfully unlock the door, the man grew increasingly frustrated.
On a hunch, I began trying all the doors of his vehicle. Finally pulling on the handle of the rear passenger door, I discovered it was unlocked. I triumphantly jumped into the backseat and unlocked the driver’s door from inside. The man was embarrassed but also very thankful for my help. I felt proud to have been able to help someone in their time of need. We shook hands and then I happily walked back to my car.
As I entered my car, the man let out a loud shriek. I froze for a moment, wondering what had happened. The man then jumped out of the car and into an identical one only a few spaces over. All this time, he had been trying to unlock the door of a car that was not his!
I sat there for a moment. Visions flew into my mind of the rightful owner approaching us while the old man torched his car door. It was all too comical and I laughed hysterically for several minutes, with outbursts of giggles accompanying me homeward.
I recounted this story several times to guests at my mother’s funeral viewing that took place only a few days later. It brought a little levity to an otherwise mournful period.