•4:58 PM
It was 12:40 PM when I decided to go shop at walmart with my 1 year old kid. I fed him his milk, all dressed and put him in his car seat. All was fine, reached walmart safely and then did something terrible in my entire life. I locked the keys, my purse and my kid in the car. No no.. I didn't leave the keys in the fob, I took it along with me, and while unbuckling my kid's seat belt, I pressed the lock button on my keys and dropped in my purse (which I normally do.. and now I know that's not right). The car next us was backing out, so I had to partially close the door but instead I slammed it and went the other side to remove him from his car seat, not knowing that I 'locked' the car before getting out. When I pulled, it was then, it struck me that I locked the car and the keys inside the car. I... was in a state of shock. I asked the gentleman who was passing by for a phone, but he did not understand what I said earlier. So, his answer was 'I don't have one.'
So I had to rush the other side, stop the lady from backing out. She was very generous to help me and handed her phone. I made a quick call to my husband (who was at work 25 miles away) to help me with AAA insurance. No luck, it went to voicemail. I was looking around for help.. feeling helpless. The lady understood and told me to go to walmart and check if someone could help while she was watching over my kid in the car.
I literally rushed and asked 2 guys, no luck. I went inside and said, and immediately another person came and made a call to the police. While I was waiting for him to come back with an answer, the guy next to me, started making me feel guilty.. All he kept saying was, 'its so hot today and it will be even more hotter in the car, the kid will cry... how .. how did you do this?.. its hot.. he will cry.' I know that my kid gonna cry, but I was not in a state to hear all that. I kept waiting for an answer, and listening to this guy, feeling guilty and bad and blaming myself for doing this, tears started rolling.
At distance I heard, the guy say 'the fire department is on-line, they wanna talk to you. Go to customer service desk.' I ran like a mad bull. The lady on the phone kept asking me questions 'are you the mom? Is the kid inside? how old is he? What make is your car? Will you be there near your car when the fire department comes in?' I kept saying YES YES YES. Rushed to the car and at this moment, I couldn't speak properly.. I was stuttering.. Is he - Is he cr-crying? The lady coolly said, no he is doing just fine. Soon in minutes, the fire engine came and everyone's attention was on me.
There were so many people flocked around me, the office got confused and asked 'whose car is it?' I raised my hand and came forward. He asked me questions like 'are you the mom? since how long the kid is in the car? etc.' They started their work, trying to unlock before they decide to break the window. More people stopped by and were asking other's what happened and the message passed on something like this 'she locked the car, the keys are inside and her kid too!' In their eyes I looked like one of those mom, who went shopping and locked her kid in the car. Whatever they thought, I was least bothered. My only focus was to get him out of the car asap!
Three officers tried and one of them said they have to break the window and asked me which one do they break? Without thinking much about the cost of the replacement window, I said the passenger side. The other gentleman said, that would cost you lot, why don't you go with the rear end one. I just nodded yes. And then my heart broke when the officer saw my kid and said he started crying. When I saw him cry I couldn't hold onto my emotions. I was like get him outta there asap. I don't care about the cost. Soon the office started to put duct tape onto the window when out of the blue the other office says, give me 30 secs. I almost got it. He tried and tried and finally he opened. I rushed and unbuckled and took him out of the baked car!
I never saw my kid cry that bad. He was all soaked up in sweat and his voice was all... well he was shivering. They took my address and my licence number and left. I stayed with my kid in the car, fed him some water and held him in my arms until he was quite. I went and bought which I wanted to buy and walmart while my kid was having fun walking in the store checking out gal's dresses! Everyone who worked there started asking 'is he OK? he seems to be okay now!'
Though the whole thing lasted for about 30 mins I guess, on the way back home, I couldn't stop crying.. how can I be so foolish? How can I be so careless? Am I a bad mom?
Sure this will haunt me the rest of my life.
So I had to rush the other side, stop the lady from backing out. She was very generous to help me and handed her phone. I made a quick call to my husband (who was at work 25 miles away) to help me with AAA insurance. No luck, it went to voicemail. I was looking around for help.. feeling helpless. The lady understood and told me to go to walmart and check if someone could help while she was watching over my kid in the car.
I literally rushed and asked 2 guys, no luck. I went inside and said, and immediately another person came and made a call to the police. While I was waiting for him to come back with an answer, the guy next to me, started making me feel guilty.. All he kept saying was, 'its so hot today and it will be even more hotter in the car, the kid will cry... how .. how did you do this?.. its hot.. he will cry.' I know that my kid gonna cry, but I was not in a state to hear all that. I kept waiting for an answer, and listening to this guy, feeling guilty and bad and blaming myself for doing this, tears started rolling.
At distance I heard, the guy say 'the fire department is on-line, they wanna talk to you. Go to customer service desk.' I ran like a mad bull. The lady on the phone kept asking me questions 'are you the mom? Is the kid inside? how old is he? What make is your car? Will you be there near your car when the fire department comes in?' I kept saying YES YES YES. Rushed to the car and at this moment, I couldn't speak properly.. I was stuttering.. Is he - Is he cr-crying? The lady coolly said, no he is doing just fine. Soon in minutes, the fire engine came and everyone's attention was on me.
There were so many people flocked around me, the office got confused and asked 'whose car is it?' I raised my hand and came forward. He asked me questions like 'are you the mom? since how long the kid is in the car? etc.' They started their work, trying to unlock before they decide to break the window. More people stopped by and were asking other's what happened and the message passed on something like this 'she locked the car, the keys are inside and her kid too!' In their eyes I looked like one of those mom, who went shopping and locked her kid in the car. Whatever they thought, I was least bothered. My only focus was to get him out of the car asap!
Three officers tried and one of them said they have to break the window and asked me which one do they break? Without thinking much about the cost of the replacement window, I said the passenger side. The other gentleman said, that would cost you lot, why don't you go with the rear end one. I just nodded yes. And then my heart broke when the officer saw my kid and said he started crying. When I saw him cry I couldn't hold onto my emotions. I was like get him outta there asap. I don't care about the cost. Soon the office started to put duct tape onto the window when out of the blue the other office says, give me 30 secs. I almost got it. He tried and tried and finally he opened. I rushed and unbuckled and took him out of the baked car!
I never saw my kid cry that bad. He was all soaked up in sweat and his voice was all... well he was shivering. They took my address and my licence number and left. I stayed with my kid in the car, fed him some water and held him in my arms until he was quite. I went and bought which I wanted to buy and walmart while my kid was having fun walking in the store checking out gal's dresses! Everyone who worked there started asking 'is he OK? he seems to be okay now!'
Though the whole thing lasted for about 30 mins I guess, on the way back home, I couldn't stop crying.. how can I be so foolish? How can I be so careless? Am I a bad mom?
Sure this will haunt me the rest of my life.
