by Cathy Lesage from Warsaw, ON
Feb 1, 14
Because my mother lives in downtown Kingston, she doesn’t own a car; she can bike or walk wherever she needs to go. But, she still likes to take the occasional drive in the country or to the shopping center, so she joined a car-share program.
One day, a few weeks before Christmas, my mother and her friend Maggie decided it would be a good time to get some shopping done. Mom booked the co-op vehicle and arranged for a Sunday pick up. At 10 o’clock on Sunday morning they picked up a brand new van and headed out to the shopping centre.
By late afternoon the van was loaded with gifts. They had one more stop to make, at Canadian Tire. After picking up what they needed there, they headed back out to the van.
When Mom put the key in the door, it was sticky and wouldn’t turn. She tried the handle and the door opened.
“That’s strange”, she said to Maggie as they climbed in. “I must have forgotten to lock it”.
But when Mom put the key in the ignition, she had the same trouble. The key wouldn’t turn.
A man walking by saw they were having difficulty and asked if he could help. He got in noticed a set of keys on the dash, grabbed them, put them into the ignition and voila! The key turned and the van started.
Mom was a little confused. She hadn’t remembered seeing an extra set of keys on the dash. But then again, she had never driven the van before, so she just put it down to being exhausted after a full day of shopping.
She thanked her good samaritan and they drove off.
Mom and Maggie decided to make one last stop at the Tim Horton’s before heading home. As they were walking back to the van with their coffees, Maggie said, “Let’s take a look at the parcels to make sure we didn’t forget anything”.
When they opened the back of the van, it was completely empty.
“Oh my goodness”! Mom exclaimed. “We’ve been robbed”!
After much discussion, they decided they would drive to the nearest police station to report the crime. The Canadian Tire store, the last place they had seen their gifts, was on the way, they decided to stop there first to see if their parcels had fallen out in the parking lot.
As they pulled in, they noticed a police car ahead of them and an officer talking to a very upset man.
“It’s our lucky day,” said Maggie. “We don’t have to go to the police station after all. We can report the theft directly to the officer here.”
It took several minutes to sort everything out.
The police officer admonished the man for leaving his keys on the dash and his car unlocked.
Then she turned to my mom and her friend.
“I can’t charge you with anything,” she said. “Because, you just made my day.”