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The Car Thief

Posted on Sep 4, 2007 by in Daily Life | 0 comments

So tonight I’m at the local Wahoo’s Fish Tacos in Tustin. In line, I seem to wait an interminable time for the lady in front of me — talking on her cell phone — to order. She takes so long, in fact, that I start to read a paper. After ordering, I realize I forgot the paper and go back in get it.

Cut to 30 minutes later. I go out to my car — parked right in front — and push the key fob remote to unlock the doors. Nothing happens. I push it again… still nothing. So I hold down the key to pen the trunk, just to see if it’s the button or the whole thing. Again, nothing. Finally, I try the key. I insert it into the door, but it won’t turn! I step back to make sure that it’s my car … but yep! It was right in front, and it was still my car. (G35 … not uncommon in SoCal, but the Brembo brakes ARE, and so I knew it was mine.)

As I stand there scratching my head — racking my brain for any way that both my key fob AND my keys could magically fail — the slow lady from line (who left a long time ago!) comes up to me, and asks if perhaps I have her keys.

It takes a moment for me to process … one of those “where am I, and how did I get here?” moments … but I figure out I am, in fact, holding her keys in my hand. I guess she left them on the counter, and at some point along the way I picked them up thinking they were mine. Same brand of car, same remote … and nearly the same things on the key ring!

Apparently she was pretty startled when, as she was calling AAA for a locksmith, her car unlocked itself. Three times. She was even more startled when her trunk mysteriously popped open. (If only I could’ve seen the look on her face then!)

She introduced herself (Lena), and we laughed about it. I guess she left the keys on the counter … and probably while I was setting down the magazine or getting my change, I picked “my” keys up thinking that I had set them down there. Funny … small world. She was nice enough about it, although I felt a little bad that her food was getting cold while she was looking everywhere, calling AAA, and generally figuring out how her keys disappeared in 1 minute flat. Apparently, the “The Car Thief” was me.

Just one of those strange stories … what’s yours?

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