Oops!

Oops!

As many of you know, a few weeks ago I got to house sit for my sister when she went out of town.  

I knew what I was getting into.  She breeds poodles, Maltese ...and chickens and turkeys.  

Then there are sixty or seventy birds…   

Oh, and the geese, too.

So I knew it was a huge undertaking.  Not so much that any of the animals by themselves were difficult.  It was just the logistics of getting animals in and out and fed; getting a system down.

But by the third day or so, I was feeling pretty proud of myself.  

I even managed to catch the escaped turkey! 

With no tv to distract me, I worked a little on writing, and did a little reading.  That is, until I misplaced my reading glasses and one of the dogs found them for me.

No big problem.  I could easily replace them at the 99 cent store just a few miles away.  And I would pick up some dinner at Panda Express, just across the parking lot.

With all of the dogs and chickens and turkeys and lovebirds and geese and finches tucked in for the evening, I set off in search of some glasses.

It probably wasn’t the best time of day.  Even the 99 cent store has a rush hour.  (Bet you didn’t know that!)

But I got lucky!  A car pulled out of the first parking space in the first row just in time.  
 

Well, okay, it wasn’t the first space – there were three or four baskets shoved haphazardly into the first one.  This was just the first one available for parking.

So I whipped my sister’s little white Geo Metro into place, thankful for its great turning radius since it doesn’t have power steering.

I rolled up the windows, slung my purse over my shoulder and locked the door.  I grabbed one of the shopping baskets from the unusable parking space next to mine and headed inside.

Shoot, with time on my hands, I could actually wander around the store and see what treasures they had to offer.  You never know what sort of treasures you can pick up for 99 cents.

Not that I usually buy much of the assortment.  It’s just fun to browse.

I strolled leisurely up one aisle and down the other.  I marveled at the rows and rows of canned vegetables and wondered how anyone could possibly think those pale, limp pieces of pulp a suitable replacement for the real thing.

I looked at the little kids toys and smiled as I thought back to the days when my kids could be so easily happy with inexpensive little things like that.

I remember on the few occasions I would go out of town I would package up little gifts for each one – one for every day I’d be gone.  So that way they’d have a concrete indicator of when mommy would be home.

Each day brought a gift to look forward to (instead of missing mommy) and they would know that when all the gifts were gone, mommy would be home!

I wandered on down the aisles and checked out the produce.  Hmm… five avocados for 99 cents?  That was a good deal!

Somewhere about mid store I puzzled over the assortment of chintzy bras and panties and thong underwear. 

Now who, I wonder, buys their underwear at a 99 cent store?

The 99 cent store has a little of something for everyone: gardening, not-so-fine china, gift bags, canned tamales, aluminum turkey pans, calendars of every kind, Suduko books and tool sets.

Not to mention, of course, their great selection of reading glasses.  (I usually pick up a few at a time.  You never know where you might misplace  or break a pair.)

With my three pairs of glasses, I headed toward the checkout line.  

Busy shoppers jockeyed for position in the several lines open. 

Someone elbowed their way ahead of me.

I was struck by the diminutive average height of the customers.  Have you ever noticed how different cities have different sized people?

At 5’9”, I seemed to tower over the crowd, I noted absent-mindedly…

I grabbed two more things at the checkout to make it an even $5.  (That’s how they get you, you know!) 

The nondescript cashier rang me up without acknowledging me or looking up at me.  I wished her a good evening, and it fell on deaf ears.

I might as well have been talking to a potato.

Oh well, I had new glasses and a pet-free evening ahead of me.  Life was good.

I pulled the keys from my pocket as I approached the little white car in the first parking slot, pondering a society where people don’t even exchange pleasantries at the checkout stand.

I should have noticed that the window was down, but I didn’t.  I even opened the door without using the key to unlock it.  But that didn’t register either.

My mind was still wondering about 99 cent thongs and cashiers on auto pilot, I guess.

I reached to insert the key, but it wouldn’t go in!  Then it dawned on me.  The open window…. The unlocked door….

Slowly it registered that something was definitely not right.  I noticed in alarm that the stereo had been ripped from its place in the dashboard.

Patty was going to kill me! I thought.  What do you do next?  I mean when you realize your car has been broken into.

I ran my fingers across the wounded dashboard, touching all around the hole to convince myself the radio was really missing, I suppose.

I guess I’d better call the police….  I reached for my cell phone, but had left it at home.  That’s okay.  I could drive to the police station, I guess.

But oh, that’s right, the key wouldn’t go in.  They must have jammed the ignition or something.  I tried again and again – as though trying it for the tenth time would magically work, when the ninth hadn't.

What would I do now?  I couldn’t even call a tow truck!

Then the shock of it all began to wear off.  

I looked again at the hole where the radio had been, and the cracked plastic of the dash.

Something wasn’t right.  I mean other than the stolen radio. 

How did they get the window all the way down?  I guess they could have just pushed it down if they were strong enough….

Then it dawned on me.

The dashboard wasn’t right.  

The shape…  The seat covers were the wrong shade of grey….

No wonder the key wouldn’t go in the ignition!  I was in somebody else’s car!  This little white car was just the same size as Patty’s, and it was parked in the first space.  

Only it was in the REAL first space.  

Someone had taken away the stray baskets.  And there, just to the right of this broken-into car I sat in, was Patty’s little Geo Metro – with the window rolled up and the door locked!

I quickly clambered out of the little white car with the missing stereo and cracked dash.  I looked about hoping to find the car’s owner, or even a security camera.

I found neither.  And not knowing what to do, I finally just left the car – with my finger prints all over the steering wheel, dash, ignition and door – and unlocked the Geo Metro and left as quickly as I could.

My mind raced.  I sure hope the stereo had been stolen at a previous time.  That they’d already known the stereo was stolen and the police had already checked the car for signs of the thief.

Otherwise, they would find my fingerprints all over the car.  And of course, being a teacher, my fingerprints are already on record with the state.  

It would only be a matter of time until I’d have to explain (probably with my hands handcuffed behind me) how I had simply gotten into the wrong car!

I can safely say now that the owner either already knew the stereo had been stolen, or the police had not fingerprinted the car.  No one ever came to arrest me.

But it made me give thought.  How often in life do we find ourselves in sticky 
(or just awkward) situations not so much by design as by carelessness?

How often do we end up in the wrong place not because we consciously chose it, but by lack of planning ahead and thinking things through?  We so often just let life carry us along complacently - without our actually making conscious decisions.

I am reminded once again that I wish to live an intentional life rather than just going through the paces. 

Whoever walks in integrity walks securely,  but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.   Proverbs 10:9

The one whose walk is blameless is kept safe,  but the one whose ways are perverse will fall into the pit.  Proverbs 28:18

This is what the LORD says:“Stand at the crossroads and look;   ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.    Jeremiah 6:16

He has shown you, O man, what is good.  And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.  Micah 6:8