That Locksmith

Hello,

When I was in Washington a month ago I had the responsibility of greeting, passing on instructions, inspecting, and paying the locksmith and the electrician.
When the locksmith was finished I checked the locks to be sure that I could indeed open the doors with the keys that he gave me. Then it was time to pay him. Credit card was not an option. My debit card would work, but where was an ATM? The friendly locksmith checks the Internet on his phone and tells me, “There is one about two minutes away.”

“Is that walking or riding?” I want to know.

“Riding,” he said and seeing my hesitation he added, “I can drive you there. It will be no problem.”

Now do you think it is a good idea to leave the house and all the possessions with the electrician?

“Ok,” I said since I could think of no other option to pay this bill.
Before I could get in the car the seat needed to be cleared of assorted items. I got in and noted that it was dirtier than our car has ever been. Mr. Locksmith got in, put the key in the ignition, turned it and nothing happened. He tried again with the same result.

“I left the lights on,” he said, “So sorry.”

He gets out and runs across the street to ask some workmen if they could jump start the car. No luck. Then he tries to stop a car going by. Next it was back into the house and he asks the electrician. Following that he comes back and goes across the street to beg. While he was doing that the electrician came out, opened up the hood of the car, took out a pliers from his belt holder, banged on the battery terminal, tightened something on the battery, closed the hood, got in the car, started it, said to the locksmith as he came back, “You should really pay more attention to that battery connection.”

“It is not my car,” the locksmith says, “It is my boss’s car.”

After a two minute drive we stop at the ATM. I cannot get my door open since there is no handle inside so the locksmith gets out and opens the door for me.
At that point I stand in line for more than fifteen minutes even though there is only one woman ahead of me. She appears to be making a number of transactions or trying to figure out how to get more money from the system than is possible. I am waiting patiently trying not to tap my foot or think about how the house could now be totally devoid of furnishings.

At last it is my turn. I have not used an ATM for some time and ask for fast cash, after all I want it fast. The trouble is that I cannot put in the amount needed so I must do it twice taking more time and doubling the charge for using this machine. (My bank covered all but $1.00 of that so it was not a big deal.)

Finally with money in hand I hop back into the car and we speed back to the house where I pay the bill, get a receipt, get the car door opened for me and my friendly locksmith speeds off on his next assignment. I go in the house and everything appears to be the way I left it complete with a still working electrician.

When Sarah heard about my escapade, she commented, “You rode off with a stranger? You could have been kidnapped!”

Paula