April Fool's... Not.

"Happy April Fool's Day!"

I know that it is not April Fool's Day anymore, thank goodness for that, but that is all that was going through my mind yesterday as I sat in a Brigham City gas station in my exercise pants and holey concert t-shirt with nothing but my debit card.

Confused? Let me explain.

So my unconscious self decided to pull a April Fool's prank on me yesterday morning when I stopped to fill up on gas in Brigham City. I was on my way back to Logan from spending Easter Sunday with my family. I needed to get back in time for my 10:30 class and was doing well, on track to arrive back in Logan an hour early. I didn't want to go through the canyon with a quarter tank of gas, so I filled up in anticipation of the drive.  This is where it all started.

I filled up and decided to go inside and get something to eat for breakfast, since I knew I had no food waiting for me at home (I hadn't done my grocery shopping yet). I opened the driver side door to grab my debit card and looked at my phone, sitting on the passenger seat. I decided that I didn't need to take it with me, since I was just popping into the store for 2 minutes. My keys were sitting right there next to them.

Do you know yet what is going to happen? I didn't.

My eyes slid ignorantly over the keys and I closed the door right after I locked it, like I always do.

Yep.

At this point, I am still unaware. Blissfully unaware, as they say.

I went in, found some tasty treats and a water bottle, paid, chatted with the nice lady behind the counter, then walked outside. Just as I was approaching my car, I clued in.

There were no keys in my hand.

The doors were locked.

I am stupid.

I am literally standing there, some Pringles, a Special K bar, and a water bottle in my hands, and wearing pretty much my pajamas and some sandals on an overcast day, and I cant go anywhere.

In the words of the very wise Ronald Weasley, "Can [I] panic now??"

So, I headed back inside to ask if I could use a phone, to which the Phillips 66 employees responded with "Is it local?"

Crap. My parents still have Idaho numbers. This is Utah. No it's not local...

However, they very graciously offered their personal cell phones. The first one I used died and I felt very bad. The second I used and just left a panicked message for my mom. She called back and said that she could not get a hold of my dad, who had the day off, and that she was leaving work to come rescue me.

Phew. Now all I had to do was sit in the corner and wait.

Easier said than done.

The drive from Salt Lake, where my mom was coming from, to Brigham City takes an hour. It felt like 4...

I attempted to pass the time by reading whatever was available while munching on my breakfast and downing my water bottle. Unfortunately all that was available were some brochures. They were all about the different cities and sights to see in Utah, Southern Idaho, and Eastern Nevada.

Those got old quickly.

Then, and I kid you not, I sat there mechanically crushing my empty water bottle to pass the time. No joke. I started at the bottom, slowly going section by section, until it was almost unrecognizable. The plastic was all crunched up like a raisin. I imagined I was some sort of Hulk.  That helped pass about 5 minutes...

Let me tell you this. It was so embarrassing sitting there for two hours just waiting in my Rascal Flatts concert shirt from 2006 and exercise pants, which I was only wearing for comfort. Mortification was definitely a strong emotion I felt that day.

In addition, I missed class and lost out on a lot of work time for my homework. It's safe to say that my locking my keys in the car ruined my whole day...

Finally, my mom drove up and rescued me with her key to the car. Bless you mom.

When I was finally on the road and heading up into the canyon, all I could think was "April Fool's!"

There is no joke here. Except for the one on me...

See you next year...

Amanda In Logan

P.S. If you liked this, don't forget to check out my other side projects, Amanda's Bookshelf and Life in the Dog Kennel over to the right! I just posted a fictional story in the Dog Kennel, let me know how you liked it!