Kaonashi Ga Suki

Oh, man.

I went through such a nightmare yesterday.

I had two classes yesterday, which started at 9am. My second class ended at 2:30. After my second class I made my way to my car. Normally, The day ends for me at 5, so I was looking forward to leaving campus a few hours early (to beat traffic, have extra time to do homework, etc.)

I rifled somewhat absentmindedly through my purse to get my car keys. I have 3 sets of keys in my purse (house, work, and car), so it usually takes a little time to find the right one.

This time however, I had a problem.

A big problem.

I couldn’t find my car key.

In disbelief, I peered in my purse to make sure the key wasn’t just tucked in one corner of the purse.

No such luck.

Confused and growing alarmed, I checked the pockets of my backpack.

Nothing.

I decided to retrace my steps. I went to all the places (classrooms, computer lab, bathrooms, cafe) that I had visited throughout the day.

No key there.

I then asked the various departments in charge of those classrooms if anyone had turned in a car key attached to some keychains.

Nope.

I was feeling queasy. How the hell was I going to get home? Sure, my boyfriend could pick me up, but he doesn’t usually get out of work until much later in the evening. I started thinking about the consequences of losing my car key: I’d have to get my car towed to the nearest dealer; I’d need new keys to be made; And how was I to get to school next week?

I started rethinking about my actions early that morning; I tried to figure out when I may have dropped my keys. See, the thing is that my purse (lovely Burberry purse that it is), is the kind that doesn’t zip up at the top, so when the purse tips over, stuff easily spills out. In fact, when I was driving to school yesterday the purse wasn’t sitting securely on the passenger side and when I braked at one point, it flew out of the seat and landed on the floor, spilling most of its contents. Of course, at the time the key couldn’t have been in it since I was in the middle of driving.

Anywho, other than the driving incident, I couldn’t think of a single moment in which I had accidentally tipped over or dropped my purse, which makes the notion of losing my key even more credulous.

I then decided to return to the scene of the crime- my car.

I had already checked around and in my car several times while I went to the different classrooms retracing my steps but didn’t find the keys there. There was a sweater sitting on the passenger side, but I couldn’t tell if the key was underneath it.

After I finished checking the classrooms, bathrooms, cafe, and computer lab, I decided to concentrate on my car. I started to have a very nagging suspicion that the key was under the sweater. I unfortunately have a tendency to drop the key on the passenger seat when I turn off the ignition.

I examined the sweater for a long time. At first I couldn’t see anything. The sun was very bright, and it reflected off the window.

But when I took another good look, I finally noticed something.

Something shiny and silver was peeking through the folds of the sweater.

Shiny- like a key ring.

I realized that because I was in such a hurry to get to class this morning, when I grabbed my purse and other sweater from the passenger’s side (yes, I had two sweaters in the car), I must have set down the keys for a moment, instead of dropping them inside the purse like I usually do.

ARGH.

Well, at least it wasn’t lost forever to the four winds.

Fortunately, I had left all the windows partially down, and could stick my hand and part of my arm through the passenger window; unfortunately I still couldn’t reach the sweater. I looked around to find a long object that I could use.

I noticed the long, loose piece of plastic in my right rear passenger window. I think the car’s previous owner attached it has a half-assed attempt in repairing the window seal or something.

I always disliked the shoddy appearance of this loose piece of plastic that stuck out above the rear window, but that day, it came in handy.

I stuck the piece of plastic through the passenger window and used it to move the sweater.

There, like an unearthed treasure, sat my car key.

Using the plastic, I tried to hook in one end to the key ring, but that wouldn’t work. The plastic was one long straight piece. I called my bf to tell him the good news (I found my keys!) and the slightly bad news (I can’t reach them). He suggested that I find someone with a wire hanger to scoop up the key.

It was 10 minutes to 5pm. People would be going home soon. I had one last chance. I went to my boss’s office and asked her for help.

Fortunately, my boss did indeed have a wire hanger in the trunk of her car! She unwrapped the hanger so it was one long wire with a hook, and with some finangling, slipped that hook into the key ring, and lifted the whole thing towards the open window and into my waiting hands!

Oh! Blessed be! I was so happy to get out of there.

I thanked my boss profusely, apologized for bothering her, and left.