Isitshixo

Isitshixo
It’s about 5:30 and I stop by a local watering hole to share a drink. By seven o’clock I was ready to head home. As I walk to my car, I fumble through my purse to find my keys. As I arrive at my car, I pause and take a good look in my purse. Slowly, as if I know what I am about to see next, I look up. There are my keys- in the ignition. Of course, all the doors are locked. (Place expletive of choice here.)

Just then, a man comes out from a nearby house. I ask if he has a hanger. As I explain to him that I locked my keys in the car, the needy cries of a baby pour out from the house as does the soft coo of a woman’s voice. After I explain the situation, he reluctantly enters back into the house. I’m still not certain if his trepidation was due to my request or just his lack of interest in returning to the crying infant. Regardless, he obliges and returns shortly with a metal hanger.

I awkwardly bend the hanger forwards and back, then drive it into the small crack between the door frame and window. It begrudgingly slips through. I twist and turn, trying to manoeuvre the wire to pull the lock up. I pull it out, bend the wire a different way and shove it through again. I repeat until bored- exactly three and a half minutes. Urgh! Just then I remember something.

I quickly grab my phone and dial the emergency number for my auto insurance. A person answers, (yes a REAL person), and I explain the situation. She says she’ll send somebody out. I walk back to the bar and order a drink. Within minutes, I receive a call from the insurance, who has a locksmith on the line. I provide directions. I sit back in waiting, sipping my beer. In the meantime, I get two SMS messages from the insurance updating me on the dispatched locksmith. Before I finish my beer, the locksmith arrives on the scene.

It takes the locksmith no more than five minutes to open my door- and, I’m in! And this is all a complimentary service of my auto insurance policy, which is roughly about $45 a month. I smile about the averted disaster and the little luxuries South Africa offers.

BTW- Isitshixo is the Xhosa word for keys… I just didn’t want to give away the story in the title. :)