Just A Little Bit Longer

Don't ever lock yourself out of a Lexus. But if you do, make sure you have Internet access. I was tearing out of the studio this evening to drive down for a Jackson Brown/Tom Petty concert at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View - about 45 minutes south of here. Yes here. I never got there. I was in such a hurry I opened the car trunk, threw everything into it, including my keys, and slammed the trunk shut. Imagine if you will, the comical look of a guy standing in the street next to a car that's shut up as tight as a gin mill on Sunday. I called triple A and eventually Sam came and pried the door open to loud screams from the startled car alarm. But I couldn't open the trunk. Seems the car knows it's been broken into and won't let me into the trunk. In fact, it won't let me do anything. The entire engine is shut down. Even if I had a key I'd have to reset the security to start the car. (There's a super secret sequence involving the key, symmetrical twisting, and something that sounds a lot like the hokey pokey.) There's nothing more depressing than a luxury leather interior with burl wood accents that is totally immobilized. The horn stopped honking and I stopped sobbing after a while. I called Lexus Roadside Assistance. The nice lady said I'd have to get my dealer to make a new key - there's no magic way to get into the trunk. The car is just too damn smart. At this point I forgot the Tom Petty concert and started worrying that I'd miss my plane to Louisville tomorrow morning. My wife, Jennifer, one hour north of here, has the only other key. Uh-oh. I called. She and the kids were carving pumpkins. How could I ask her to pack the kids in the car and drive for an hour to let me into my own car then drive back home another hour and her with a dozen cupcakes to make for school tomorrow? I asked. Fortunately, she got the bright idea of sending a cab down with the key. Dan is on his way now. It's going to cost me $100 but what's a guy to do? The concert is starting right about now. I guess I might make it for the encore.

Comments

[mark p]

i did that too once, i had left my keys in the trunk of my 98 es300 i called CAA, they got the car (with the alarms going off)open, luckily on my car theres a opening to put your skis through in so i got the keys out, iff not i wouldve been screwed because my parents were out of town and my house keys were also with those keys (i had thought about going home and getting the keys but realised that wouldn't work)