Keith I'm Shocked! ....and a Little Impressed. Or, My Good Neighbors Far Outweigh the Bad Ones..

So last night I drove into town to the little Dunkin' Donuts/Baskin Robbins to get Mags some soft ice cream which she had been craving. I come home and tow of our neighbors are out in the street. This isn't unusual, we often gather and chat, but it was freakin' cold here last night. I walk into the house and give Mags her ice cream and she informs me Jarod, the young guy three houses down, has lost his house keys and is locked out. His wife and baby are sitting in the mini-van waiting for a locksmith. I bring the yellow pages down to him and find our next door neighbor Johnathan, the State Trooper standing with him. Jarod tells us they are just home from California and he has realised that the keys to his house and his new Subaru (which is in long-term parking at JFK) are in California. So from JFK I'm guessing the MIL picked them up and let them use her mini-van to drive home to Joisey. 

Anyways, the locksmith has been called and he says he's 15-25 minutes away. Well, we stand outside freezing for over an hour, Jarod calling and getting the ol' "I'm stuck in traffic" bit. It was 8pm and really there is nowhere this guy could be stuck. In the meantime, Keith rolls up. He asks us what we're up to and we give him the rundown. He says 'gimme a minute' and soon returns with a coat-hanger and a beer. He walks around to the patio door and sees that Jarod has placed a long round piece of wood in the track to prevent break-ins. Keith works the coat-hanger between the doors and manages to pop the piece of wood out onto the floor. We laugh at his creativity ( the State Trooper is also impressed) and he then tries to lift the door out of the lock and slide it open. He cannot. He is discouraged because "I thought I could get into any of these houses" he says .

So he goes home again to get a ladder. We are still waiting for the locksmith at this point. Keith comes back and climbs to every window, which are, of course, locked.

At this point the locksmith shows up. He is a dead ringer for Marty Feldman as 'Igor' in 'Young Frankenstein' except he is an Indian. He gets his kit and walks to the door. He sees it is a dead bolt and says "woooo....deadbolt...very hard to pick.." we all exchange glances and we know what is coming. He works the lock for maybe ten minutes and says "If I can't get it I will have to drill it out." Thankfully, he has a load of NEW locks in his mini-van. Nice coincidence huh? Jarod panics at the thought of the new lock being drilled out and, the Marty informs him, it will cost him $150 to perform this action. At this point, Jarod says "Mannn...I think there is a spare key in my Honda, but the keys to it are on my other key-ring (in CA.) Again Keith says, "wait right here..." and goes back home. He comes back with 4 things. A very large screwdriver, a long metal device with a rubber handle, what looks like the cuff of a blood-pressure tool, and a beer.

He pries the door open a tiny bit with the screwdriver, inserts the blood-pressure cuff thingy into the gap, pumps it up until the door is open enough to get the long metal thingy in there and unlocks the door.

There is indeed a spare key to the house in the center console and Jarod and his wife and their baby, are able to get into the house. Now the locksmith demands $85. Jarod tells him he didn't do anything and will not pay him $85. He does offer him $40 cash for coming out. In the end the guy did take the $40 but I'm afraid they will try and make Jarod pay for the whole deal. So if you're ever locked out of your house/car give Keith a call. I'm sure you'll be able to pay him with beer.