blonde--for some it is a moment, for others a lifetime

My mom use to always tell me, "The Holy Ghost goes to bed at 10pm, which means only trouble happens after that, which is why that is your curfew." I use to hate to hear it, but I must admit, just before I moved away to college I learned just what she meant.

Now I have to set the seen, I am babysitting 4 children all of which are under 5yrs (or was it 6), there mom is single and leaves town for weeks at a time since she is a traveling nurse, we are getting ready to move to Salt Lake City (me for college, her for her job). I also need to point out that this is the summer Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped, and a few kids had already died from heat exhaustion from accidently becoming locked in cars--1 found in the trunk the parent's car.

I had been watching the kids for a few days now, the kids were all in bed asleep and my little sister and her friend had stopped by to not only help me get the kids to bed but to also help me "relax" and have give me a few moments where I didn't have to be a mature adult carign for 4 kids--remember I was only 17, my sister was 14 and so was her friend. Her friend was on my cell phone with her "boyfriend" (who later came between the girls and why they are no longer friends from my understanding but that is another story for another day), my other sister was busy doing something in the house and I decided to pull my rollerblades out of the trunk and rollerskate up and down the sidewalk, it was about midnight, and so I rollerbladed down to Fillmore park (the house we were out was on mainstreet just a few houses up from Fillmore park) and came back, and decided that was enough excercise for me so I reminded Sarah (my sister's friend) to get off the cell phone and I took the car keys from her (she was sitting in the driver's seat of the green 1996 Geo Metro I owned at the time) I went and opened the trunk and sat down with my butt in the trunk and my feet dangling out over the bumper as I took off my roller blades.

After I took off my rollerblades I tapped on the rear window reminding Sarah yet again that she needed to get off the cell phone (boy can that girl talk) and then I decided it would be super funny if I laid down in the trunk and when she came back to give me the phone I would pop up and scare her--yeah, that was a great idea, I thought as I lay down in my trunk chuckling makin sure that all my body parts are hidden and out of sight so she will wonder where I went, not thinking, as I lay down I still had my keys in hand.

I laid there for about a minute chuckling to myself with how great this prank would be, I guess my chuckling louder than I thought cause I didn't hear the footsteps up to the trunk, all I know is suddenly the trunk closes--but how, then I hear my sister's voice telling her friend she just shut the trunk--she ofcourse is laughing pretty good as she says this--and that I was in the trunk so she shut me in the trunk, which is when her shocked friend informs her that I had the keys to the car and I hear a then frantic Katie (my sister) run back to the trunk area proclaiming her love to me and how God would want me to forgive her.

So, as of now, I am locked in the trunk, katie is frantically apologizing thinking that she has to get on my good side before that trunk opens or else, and Sarah is still on the cell phone explaining to her boyfriend what is going on.

No problems, thinks Sarah who is laughing at Katie's frantic attempt to get on my good side, just pop the trunk with the lever by the drivers seat that all cars have--all cars except my 1996 green geo metro, so she casually asks me where my trunk popper is and so I calmly explain that my car doesn't have one and that they will have to listen closely so I can explain to them how to put the back seat down so I can crawl out--now see my back seats both folded forward to make for more trunk space but someone had broken off the little knobs so you had to push down on the seat and grab the remaining screws and pull on them to then pull the seat forward, it obviously doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out, but when it comes to 2 14yr old blondes it does take a little bit of explaining.

As I am trying to explain this to the girls I ask--do you understand? "Yes" is there reply, ok now pull on the screws, you got it? "Yes, but the seats won't come forward" is what I hear, so I try to stay calm, giving directions to teenagers is rough, but like I said these are 2 female blonde teenagers, so it takes extra patience, so I calmy ask what they didn't understand, and they repeat each step back to me and assure me they are doing it right so I just don't understand where they are going wrong so I tell them to pull harder, at this point they start complaining to each other about my demands and I hear one say to the other "I would be able to pull harder if this stinking carseat wasn't in the way"

Carseat in the way, I wonder to myself, at that point realizing just how blonde these two girls are (for some it is a moment, for other's a lifetime) I suggest them calling for help, because heaven knows if they aren't smart enough to take the carseat that is buckled into the back seat out before attempting to lay the backseat down they aren't going to be able to get me out myself.

"but Meagan we can't call mom it is after 10, you know what she says" and Katie was right, my mom did have a standing threat that if we called after 10 it better be for a life or death situation, and if not we would have a life or death situation. So at this point I remember that there is my spare key hanging in the kitchen at our house only about a 5 minute walk away, so I suggest katie walk there and get the key, we ofcourse remember that sarah has to stay behind incase one of the kids wakes up, because heaven knows if I can't get out of the trunk there is no way I can comfort them back to sleep. This plan sounded simple enough to me, but Katie saw it another way, "are you kidding me, if I walk home someone will rape me" now I don't know if Katie just had an unrealistic self image of herself or if those friendly chats we have with our kids about don't walk alone by yourself after dark or bad things might happen really sank in to an extremem but katie was always pointing out how she couldn't do things or someone would rape her--her words not mine.

So to recap, I am locked in the trunk, there is no trunk popper, the only 2 people who are aware of the situation are why blondes got a bad rep in the first place, we can't call my mom (out of fear of what the or else may be) and Katie can't walk home to get the spare key (out of fear that in the 5 minute walk someone will drive by, kidnap her and rape her--her words not mine) so I am getting a little nervous at this point, and realize we have to go back to the pullin the seat down idea, so I explain to the girls that to pull the seat down they have to take the carseat out of the backseat--"well how do we take the carseat out?" asks Sarah "You unbuckle it" I explain, so there si silence while they examine the and then I hear "well how do you unbuckle it?" at this point I am in histerics, my life is flashing before my eyes as I realize I am never goin to see the light of day again, when morning comes and the car heats up I will still be stuck in the car and bake to death, and that is if I last till then, no water, no food, and maybe no oxygen depending on how airtight the trunk really was...Yes I was doomed.

"Call 911!" I yelled
"WHAT?" they didn't know if they heard me right or if I was kidding
"Call 911!" I yelled again "Maybe they can send a cop that will be able to pick the lock and get me out, because there is no way you girls will be able to do it"

at this point Sarah is laughing uncontrollably, I can hear her, she is laughing so hard she can barely breathe and then I hear--"Sarah, you need to get off the phone Meagan says we need to call 911" I couldn't believe it, through all that she was still on the phone with her boyfriend! She is laughing so hard she can't say goodbye, and katie comes over and asks what to do--"katie take the phone, hang it up and then dial 911!" duhhhhh I'm thinking while I tell her this.

I hear the girls get serious, then I hear "My sister is locked in her trunk can someone help us" so I realize they are talking to the 911 operator and that eventually help will be on the way, things will definately get better now, I hear then explain where we are and that it is a green Geo Metro so the cop will know what they were looking for--Hello, 2 blondes and a geo--kind of hard to miss standing infront of a house on mainstreet in small ol' Fillmore, Utah in the middle of the night.

As I am trying to figure out what is being said I hear my sister's voice change to happyness, as she runs over and says "Meagan, there are levers on the trunk door inside that you can pull and they will open the trunk then you can get out!" she is so excited to give me this news

"No there isn't" I explain back, but she argues with me that there is, that is when I remember that the lady who sold me the car was a 911 operatoir/dispatcher in Fillmore and realize that she is who is on the phone and she knows who is locked in the trunk--the joys of living in a small town, personally knowing the 911 operator just one of the perks. Well with that said I decide to feel around, I had never noticed the levers before, but figure maybe they were hidden, nope nothing to open the trunk from the inside, but katie argues with me and I insist, she tries to explain to me what they look like, that is when everyone realizes that the car was made and sold before those were a requirement, then I guess she suggested to katie about the trunk popper--they frantically look in the car for one of those, but are sadly reminded we already went through that step, so the dispatcher decides to send a police officer to my rescue.

A few minutes pass by and I hear a man's voice talking to my Katie and Sarah, then I hear it gettign closer, that is when I see a light shine under the back seat--"can you see my light?" asks the man's voice, to which I answer yes, "Then slide your keys through that space and I will get them" so I do and he does--and I realize that Katie and Sarah aren't the only 2 teenage blondes at the scene of the crime that night, the point that I didn't realize I could slide the keys underneat the back seat made me just as blonde as them not knowing how to unbuckle the carseat.

Then I hear my greatful sister thanking the police officer, Sarah thanks him as well the whole time I am thinking--"HELLO PEOPLE, did you forget about me?"

"Meagan, I love you so much, and am so sorry, will you forgive me?" I hear katie try to plea "because if I have the keys and if you won't forgive me I won't open the trunk" I tried to suggest Sarah to take the keys from her but Sarah and Katie both stood strong, so I asked where the cop was--they point out he left and that was when I realized my fate was in the hands of those 2 girls, so I agreed to forgive, but to never forget, and I did and they let me out.

Now, that story in and of itself might not sound so funny, but let me just tell you I was definately the butt of everybody's jokes for years to come, up until Katie passed out when her head got stuck in her CR-V's window as she drove down the freeway going to meadow.

The following week I traded my beloved Geo metro in for a 1999 Saturn SL2, where the seat could be pushed down from inside the trunk, even if there was a carseat buckled in, and in addition to that, I made sure the car had a trunk popper not only in the car but also on the keys, and the car had a 3 person size trunk, so even if all those things failed I would be comfy until help could arrive--if by chance the situation ever arose again.

Now some things I learned from that experience:

Always listen to your mom, she knows best

Only bad ideas happen after 10pm (which is when the Holy Ghost goes to bed)

And, as scared as we were, we should have just called my mom, cause after the operator got off the phone with me someone informed my mom of our little situation so the next day when we showed up to play with the ducklings that had hatched we surely got it.

Rumors don't always make it from Fillmore to Kanosh like one would figure durin the summer cause when I mentioned to my mechanic that I traded in my geo for a much safer car with features to open the trunk incase someone got locked in it with the keys his only reply was, "what kind of an idiot woudl get locked in the trunk with the keys?"

and last but not least

Never mention to a friend infront of a cardealer that the trunk of the car you are about to buy could hold atleast 3 people comfortable--they seem to not want to be the one selling you the car after comments like that.

By the way, with carseats and everything, the last car we decided to buy was an SUV because why chance having a trunk to get locked in