Stranger Than Fiction

Well, this is a story that is true.  It didn't happen to me, but it happened to a good friend.  I will tell it in several blogs, so as not to bore you.  But it isn't boring.  And it is a little scary.

My friend treks to the YMCA near us nearly every day.  At the Y, there is a rack where people can hang their car keys so that they don't have to be hasseled with them.  One day, several weeks ago, he finished his workout, reached for his keys . . . and they weren't there.  And neither was his car.

Now, this was not just any car.  It was a copper orange HRV.  Not exactly an unobtrusive thing.  But it was gone.  (In hindsight, I can see the person come in, grab the keys, go outside to see which of those fancy cars was theirs, and the one that opened was . . . orange?  I can hear the swear words fly!)  But that doesn't matter.  He loved the car, loved the color, and was downright angry that his car was gone.  Along with the garage door opener, registration . . . you know the drill.

They called the police, but the police were not real hopeful they would find the car any time soon.  The surveillance video at the Y was down, so they didn't even know whether it was a man or a woman who stole it.  In the meantime, my friend had to disconnect the garage door, since his "bwipper" was in the car.  He had to change the locks on the house.  He had to cancel his phone and get a new one.  I don't recall if he also lost his wallet, but you know what that would have entailed.  It was a pain in the neck.

He and his wife drove around looking for the car, but to no avail.  The police had no leads.  Then two days later, another car was missing from the Y.  This time, the surveillance video was working, and they eyed a woman coming out of the locker room with keys to a car.  She lucked into a black Charger. I commented to my friend that she had been sent back to get a better car, since the first one was such an interesting color.  They caught the woman who stole that one . . . but she gave them no hints on my friend's car.  So he got a rental car and waited to see what would happen.

Which is what you will have to do.