Picture this: We have a sliding glass door off of our kitchen that leads out to a deck. The deck is about 15 feet above the ground, with no stairs or exit. I was doing the dishes, when I got a bit chilled from the a/c. I decided to step outside and sit on the patio chair for a bit so that I could warm up in the sun. Just as I got comfortable, Evan decided he wanted to go back inside and play with the sliding door. "Wouldn't that be crazy if he locked me out?" I thought to myself. Well I must have jinxed myself. Before I could even get up from my chair, Evan had flipped the latch on the sliding glass door, into the locked position. Oh crap. What was I going to do? There I was, eight months pregnant, in the middle of hot summer day, trapped on a deck with no phone, no water, and no way of escape. To make matters worse, my one year old was locked in the house with no supervision.
I resisted the urge to panic, and tried to talk Evan into unlocking the door. Luckily for me, he thought we were playing some kind of game. He stayed right by the glass door and slapped the glass giggling, while I tried to coax him into flipping the latch the other way. No such luck. It didn't take long before I came to the realization that this plan was not going to work. About that same time, Evan realized I was not playing a game. He quickly became frustrated with me and the tears started pouring down his cheeks. I knew I had to find a way into the house and quick. My poor baby was locked in the house with no way to understand why his mom wasn't coming in!
I thought about shimmying down the pole, but scratched that plan as soon as I pictured myself trying to slide down a square post with a huge pregnant belly. No way. I wouldn't make it down without killing myself and the baby. Okay. Plan B. I could try to climb up on the railing and get up on the roof. Then what? Jump off the other side, which was just as high off the ground, if not higher. Okay. That's not going to work. Finally, I glimpse of hope. I noticed that my next door neighbor had a sprinkler running in his back yard. Okay. "I am saved," I thought. It's only a matter of time before he will have to come out and move the sprinkler. Then I could yell to him and he could go through the house and open the patio door for me. Perfect. Now I just had to wait. The question was, how long would one let a sprinkler run in one spot? Ten minutes? Twenty? Twenty minutes seemed like a lifetime with Evan at the door sobbing. But it was feasable. At least I knew I wasn't going to die of heat stroke, and Evan probably wouldn't get into too much mischief in that amount of time. Then the thought occurred to me, "What if he is like my mom." She lets her water flood her lawn for hours sometimes. His lawn had some pretty good dry spots. There was no way Evan would have the patience to wait, and my feet were starting to burn on the deck. I calmly said a prayer to myself, and before I could even say amen. I noticed that a neighbor across the canal had walked out onto his patio. Fortunately, it was my friend's parent's house. I couldn't remember her maiden name exactly, but I had an idea. I took a chance that the man might hear me and yelled, "Mr. Boguard." The man looked up from his grill, but I wasn't sure if he could hear me or not. His house is a good 50 yards or more away. I was afraid that he was going to walk into the house, before I had a chance to explain the urgency of my situation. I just kept yelling, "I'm locked out. Could you call Mandy?" Mandy lives a couple of streets away, but I figured it would be easier for her to come rescue me, than have her dad come. There is a canal, a railroad track, and a fence dividing our backyards. Even if he drove, it would take longer for him to get here than it would for Mandy.
It didn't look like he heard me. He just turned and walked into the house. I was screwed! I got down on my knees and tried to comfort my sobbing baby through the glass. My own tears were starting to flow. I was so scared for us both. Just as I was attempting to teach Evan to unlock the door from the other side of the glass again. I heard someone say my name. It was Mandy and her son! Her brother was the one on the balcony. He had heard me, and called Mandy. I don't know if I have ever been so happy to see a friend. She told me that the front door was locked. I gave her my garage code, and she ran to get inside. She came back a few seconds later, and exclaimed, "That door is locked too!" Why did I have to be so cautious? Thank goodness my wise husband had stashed a key, just in case I happened to lock myself out. What a good guy! I guess he knows me too well. Mandy was able to find the key, and ran in to save me. As soon as she let me through the door, I picked up my sobbing child and tried to console him. Poor little guy. He had no idea what happened. How blessed I was that Mandy's brother walked outside at that moment.!I don't think I will ever forget this experience. Hopefully, I'm smart enough not to let it happen again. LOL.
12 years ago