Mrs. Pool, I was really afraid for your kids!!!

When I was a high school teacher, I had been asked to go to a conference in Oklahoma City. My kids were ages 6, 5, 2 and 1 at the time. So Bob asked his mother, Arlene, to come down while I was gone and help him watch the kids.

I had also hired a high school girl that year to come and clean our house for us once a week. I told her that I was going to this conference, but that my Mother-in-law would be at the house, so she could go ahead and clean at her regular time.

Well Memaw took our new mini-van to the school to pick up Frank and Libby. Bob was at practice. When she got home, she said she was about to pee her pants, so she told the kids to stay in the car while she ran in the house to go to the bathroom, and then she'd come back out and unload the little girls and take them in the house.

Well while she's in the bathroom, she hears the Panic Alarm go off in the Mini-van "Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep..." She finishes her business and goes back outside. The kids (Frank and Libby) have locked themselves inside the mini-van....with the keys in there....and the two little girls....and have also somehow managed to set off the panic alarm.

**I** have the second set of keys in my purse with me....in Oklahoma City!! She tries to get the kids to unlock the door and they just look at her. Somehow she finally pursuades them to open the doors and she's able to get the little girls out....but even though the doors are unlocked, the panic alarm is still going strong. She presses the panic button, but it won't go off.

Note: When the doors are locked and there is movement inside the vehicle, the system assumes someone is trying to break into the car and sets off the alarm. The way to turn it off is to hold down the Panic Button for 10 seconds. But Memaw didn't know that!!!

Neighbors begin to call the house asking if She knows the car alarm is going off. The alarm continues to go off for another 15 minutes until it finally shuts itself off.

So when I come home from the trip, I ask how things went. Memaw tells me "Oh, we had this little issue of Frank and Libby setting off the car alarm, but we got it taken care of."

I really didn't think any more about it until I went to school the next Monday. The girl who cleans my house comes up to me during class and goes "Mrs. Pool...are your kids okay?" I'm like "Yeah, last time I checked....why wouldn't they be?" And Erica says "Well I was at your house cleaning it when your kids locked the keys in the mini-van and set the alarm off. And I was afraid for your kids!!!" And I respond "Yeah, I know about that, Memaw told me about it. Why were you afraid for them??" And she says "Well I went out there to try and help her turn the alarm off and get the kids out of the mini-van. And we couldn't figure it out. And when the kids finally unlocked the door, your Mother-In-Law was yelling and screaming and chasing them across the yard. And Mrs Pool, I was really afraid for your kids!!!"

Hmmmm....Memaw had neglected to tell me about that part. LOL.