OCR Text |
Show Some things you learn the hard way grassrootl i - i 1 yj ) Copvr;' ti fc? G;-.1 Jot It can happen in only five minutes. A parent leaves their child unattended unat-tended in the car while they dash into a store and upon their return, the child is gone. We've heard of parents who leave children in a car with the engine running while they quickly mail a letter. Meanwhile, a child puts the car in gear, backs it across the street and through a store window. We've seen unattended kids make the ten o'clock news by selling a baby brother in the parking lot at K-Mart. K-Mart. Common sense tells us that leaving children alone in a car is a dangerous thing to do. I left my children alone in the car last week. I know, I know ... it wasn't a smart thing to do. Let's just say I was running a quart low on common sense. I loaded six kids in the station wagon, adjusted the mirrors, and checked safety belts. Then I discovered that we weren't going anywhere because I had forgotten the car keys. I raced from the car into the house, not giving the kids a second thought. After all, the car was in our own driveway and I was only going to be a minute. As I bounded through the front door to begin my search, the telephone rang. I listened to a whiny, young salesman explain how I can subscribe to 20 of my favorite magazines for only $13.95 a month. The sales pitch continued as I dumped out the contents of a junk drawer to dig for the car keys. While I sorted through the heap, I politely explained that the most current thing I had found time to read was a pizza coupon. I hung up the phone and nervously peeked out the front window. I then beheld a sporting event in the back of the station wagon that resembled Late Night Wrestling. I knew if I didn't find the car keys within the next thirty seconds, our trip to the store might very well become a trip totheemergencyroom. I frantically continued the hunt for the keys. I searched every room. I checked every logical place. My inner Sherlock Holmes was concentrating con-centrating especially hard when my thoughts were interrupted by the honking of the horn. I estimated that I had approximately fifteen seconds left to produce the car keys before one of the neighbors called the police. There were only three places left to check for car keys; the fish tank, the lint trap on the dryer and the flour bin. Whichever child had been by BECKI GRASS JOHNSON annoying me by "punching" t horn, decided instead to annov: by "sitting" on the horn. With a steady blast, the pressure was oa had five, seconds left to locate keys. With a mother's intuition thai one can explain, I located the te behind a box of fish sticks in t freezer. There was a smile on i face and two seconds to spare wit bolted through the front door. The honking immediately stop; and children scrambled back i their seat belts. As I slid behind: wheel, I couldn't help but notice angelic faces surrounding i (Except for a gloomy six-year who handed me a tattle-tale list long as your arm.) I placed the key in the ignit feeling just a bit smug. After al had left the children in the car only five minutes, tracked down car keys without a geiger cour, and upon my return, not one d needed stitches. Little did I ki that I was about to haveabrushi death. As I turned the key, the n suddenly blared, the airconditioi hit me in the face, the wind sh wipers jumped into action and cigarette lighter started smci The emergency brake was jam to the floor and there were 1 kissy-lip smudges all over the i view mirror. Every child in the car had surprised "What? Who, me?" as I frantically turned off, tune and readjusted every knob, bill bell and whistle in the car. Okay, so I learned my lesson hard way. With gratitude in heart that I didn't slump over wheel in cardiac arrest, I sola promise never again to leave kids in the car alone. But on the other hand, I did ge tires rotated free of charge. |