Locked In!

Family members and friends often make comments to me about one of the blog entries I wrote while in Kenya last summer, when I locked myself up in my bedroom, slightly fearful of the monkeys who had raided my canvas cottage that evening. So, in the spirit of entertaining many of you once again with a story of locked doors, I thought I'd share what happened to me yesterday evening.

I was locked in my bathroom for 2 hours.

I hadn't had a problem with the bathroom door previously, but yesterday, I was in the bathroom at around 6:00 pm, and when I turned the doorknob to leave the bathroom, the door wouldn't open. I tried locking and unlocking the door, to no avail. The door is solid wood and sturdy, but the doorknob was a bit loose; hence, the problem. I kicked the door, pulled with all my strength, and looked around my empty bathroom for anything I could use to try to slide between the lock and the door crack. Nothing. After about 30 minutes of trying to find different ways to turn the doorknob, I thought of alternatives. I could flood the bathroom and hope the water would leak to the apartment below me, but decided that would be a bit expensive in the long run. I opened the small bathroom window and called out for help. I began banging on the ceiling with the shower nozzle, hoping my simple SOS pattern would help the upstairs apartment dwellers to know I was in need of help.  No luck.


I imagined someone would notice by Sunday night, when I didn't show up for the birthday celebration that was being held for me, or when I wasn't at my normal pick-up spot for work/school in the morning, and that someone would be sent to check on me by Monday afternoon. Or that the maid would find me on Wednesday morning when she arrived. I tried to keep calm and thought about how I would pass the time.

Fortunately, I had a small makeup bag in the bathroom and found a pair of tweezers in it. I pried them open, used them as a screwdriver, and after an hour, I had pulled off both door handles, could put my hand through the door, and was ably to wry it open. Hooray- I was free! I have to say that after "holding it together" for 2 hours in the bathroom, I had a bit of a breakdown when I was released, but I can laugh about it now. Whew! I had a cup of tea, watched a little television, and went to bed for the night. Needless to say, someone is coming over tomorrow to fix the door and I'll be carrying a cell phone with me everywhere from now on!