It was like M. Night Shyamalan's Signs. I don't mean to spoil the movie for you if you haven't seen it, but that's what it was like. I was standing there having a series of vivid flashbacks and suddenly everything made sense. Fell into place. It was God's plan, that's all.
Let me set the scene. First, I had just parked my car in the airport long-term. Like I do. And I circled around the back to get my check bag out of the back of the car. But the back's locked, of course. So's the front - I'd shut the door, soundly. My car key was inside.
See, I don't bring my big ring of home-keys on trips; I had only my car key with me and I was planning to secrete it within the car for my return. I wouldn't need it on the trip. To get back into the car I had my spare car key in my wallet, as I always do - in case of accidental lock-outs. My wallet was in my check bag.
When flying I check my wallet. It's a new wallet, and I like it a lot. It has a metal bottle opener built right into it, and I don't trust security not to say it's a weapon, so I check it. I transfer my cards, ID and cash to my ratty old previous wallet for the flight, but the spare key stays in my nice wallet with everything else. Such as my AAA card. All snug in my nice wallet, packed in my check bag. Locked in the back of the car.
I tried the passenger door. Locked, of course. I knew it was.
So I don't tend to go in for miracles a lot, though I do pray quite a bit. Still, this was a bind. I was wondering whether I ought to pray for a miracle. When suddenly it happened!
I could practically hear the mounting, frenetic trills of the score. I was suddenly flashing back to 48 hours prior, standing in the Big K looking for a new gym bag to use as a carry-on. One of them was the right shape and size, but bright blue and gold - it would suit if I were a Spartans cheerleader. A dark blue one looked right but the bottom was too rigid. A collapsible shell is key! Otherwise, they will try to tell you it doesn't fit in the frame box they keep by the gate. In the end, no bag was suitable. I decided to try a different store later, and that if worst came to worst my current carry-on with the tear in the top flap would work.
A separate series of coincidences kept me from hitting another store before the trip, so I was stuck with the old bag for this trip. And then as I flashed back to the present, standing behind my locked car - the image formed in my mind of a spare key I'd seen rattling around the bottom of my carry-on, a few trips back.
Was it still there?
I threw the bag down on the asphalt and dug through the contents like a maniac.
The key was there. It was there all along!
Swing away.
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