Sarah Does Stupid Things, Part I

Yesterday, after I had a fairly exasperating experience doing laundry at my apartment complex (If the 'in use' light is on, don't open up the dryer door, then close it and not turn the 'on' button again. My clothes will stay wet. That's just rude.), I went out on my patio to measure my sliding glass door for a screen door.

I accidentally shut the door the entire way, and watched as a bar fell down, holding the door shut, with me on the outside. I could see into my apartment, right at my front door, which was locked twice, with the deadbolt thrown from the inside. I thought about how my windows were all locked. I turned around and saw that the patio railing, heavy and wooden, was about as tall as my head. For a few seconds, I contemplated what yelling 'help' would accomplish. Then, I moved my butterfly chair over to the railing, managed to get my bare foot through a hole and onto a staircase next to the railing, and hoisted myself up and over.

I knocked on my neighbor's door. I'd never spoken to her before, but Lauren was quite friendly and invited me in. She and her friend, Courtney, both about my age, were watching "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and relaxing. Lauren didn't have a phone book, so she called her mom and had her look up the number to the apartment complex. Once I called the emergency maintenance number, the man on call informed me that he couldn't help me because there was no way of proving my name was on the lease, or something like that.

Courtney called someone and he began looking up numbers for locksmiths. None could help me. Lauren has two cats. They kept sniffing my feet and their noses were cold. I called my aunt's house, just to update them on the situation and that I was thinking of breaking a window. My aunt's husband answered. He wasn't helpful.

Eventually, we went outside and examined the windows, wondering how bad it would be to break one. I had just called the maintenance guy back, saying that if I broke a window, there was no way I'd pay for it because he wouldn't come help me. He said he'd call the manager. Lauren said she had a screwdriver.

Then I remembered: I had had my windows open about a week ago, and noticed that my bedroom window's latches aren't great. So, I went around to the front with the screwdriver, climbed into the bushes and popped the screen off the window. I then proceeded to jimmy the window open. (Which is cause for concern. If I can break into my apartment that quickly...) We all laughed. It had been about 30 minutes since the fiasco began. I just said goodbye to the girls and climbed in. Then I went to my computer and told my brother what happened on AIM.

I called my aunt's husband back to tell him I'd made it in. He didn't seem to care. I could have been eaten by rabid dogs roaming the Big Country in search of stupid people, and it would have been on his head. Ah well.

So that's my latest stupid story. I will continue to bring you, faithful readers, more parts to the ongoing series, Sarah Does Stupid Things. Thanks for being my friend.