It was the last day of the camp. All the campers were leaving out in busses and cars, being chaperoned off by the staff to the airport at various times during the day. As had been normal for quite a few days now (or was it weeks?), I had slept for 5-6 hours the previous night and yet was wide awake for my driving shifts.

In a comedy of errors, in the morning I had dropped a camper off whose parents had completely bungled up the departure plan. Fortunately, the camper was very mature (more than their parents) and dealt with it in a very cool-headed manner, so I was back in the war room delightfully troubling the poor staff who were managing all the chaos.

We had run out of granola bars. This is never a good state to be in. It was up to me to drive over to the nearby grocery store and pick some up.

Of the things I hate in this world, somewhere at the very top is parking. I must’ve cursed at least a dozen times while I squeezed my car in the parking slot trying to get it straight between the line markers. As I stepped out I was pleasantly greeted by the morning air, the empty streets, and the gentle sun still low on the horizon. Every time I’m surprised by how refreshing being outside in the morning can be.

Shopping malls are not that far down my list either, I’m an ardent follower of Amazon. I got lost in the granola bars aisle, called the camp office just to annoy them, grabbed some Starbucks along the way, wasted some time waiting in the check-out lines and was ready to get back to the war room. I went back to my car, eagerly put my key in and tried to twist it (it was one of those) but the door won’t budge.

I have this circuit in my brain that automatically activates whenever I get in a situation. As I was fidgeting with the door I was making plans about what to do if the door doesn’t open, I could call the car rental company but employees at rental agencies aren’t known to be geniuses, I could call AAA but they’ll take forever to come. I was reminded of a friend who had found himself in a similar conundrum and had called his insurance company, the guy came in 5 hours and simply jerked the key really hard and pried the door open, I did not want to put myself in a similarly embarrassing situation. I could google up some youtube videos and see what tricks to use to open a stuck car door. I was also trying to compute a time limit when to give up and call the office and let them know that this car and I were not going to be available to them for the rest of the day.

All this was going on in my head while my body was poking and kicking and cursing and sweating in the parking lot, when the owner of the car started shouting at me from across the street. I was trying to open somebody else’s car.

I hate parking lots.