An emergency phone call
Yesterday, right at 5:30 when I was preparing to leave work for the day, my son called me.
Me: "What's up?"
He: "Dad, something very bad has happened!"
Me: (thinking of all kinds of horrible things that could have happened) "What?!"
He: "Jordyn's stuck in the bathroom! I tried to get her out but the knob won't turn!"
Me: (quite relieved) "Tell her to be calm and that I am on my way home now. Don't worry."
He: "Okay. I'll tell her."
Occasionally, in the fantastic complex that I reside in, the doorknobs just seize up. There's a bit of warning where it doesn't turn quite right, and the bathroom door was giving that warning, but then seemed better. So I left it be and hoped for the best. The "best" being that if it happened it didn't happen with me in there. At least the screws were on the hall side of the door, unlike the time when it was the kids' bedroom doorknob that seized up with Jordyn trapped inside when she was three. At least this time she was older and could understand waiting.
I drove home with only one stop, to pick up some WD40. The first can I've ever purchased. I'm not terribly "handy". It took me about 45 minutes to get home and when I walked in the door Justin shouted out, "Dad's home!" and I heard Jordyn yell, "Yay!" from the bathroom.
I tried the knob and it was stuck fast. Jordyn knows how a door is locked so that wasn't it. I told her to wait for a few more minutes, stuck the WD40 tube into the lock hole and sprayed around a bit, then tried again. No luck. I told Jordyn that I would have to get the screwdriver and she asked, "Am I going to be stuck here forever?" I told her that I didn't think so, got the screwdriver and went about removing the knob.
Once my side of the knob was off I told her to pull the other one off. She did and was quite happy because she could finally see me. The bit that keeps the door closed still wouldn't come out though and Jordyn's half of the knob was the one with the shaft that turns it. I tried a flathead screwdriver but it couldn't apply the right pressure, so... I took apart another doorknob. The one on my room's door.
And that worked. It opened up right away and Jordyn was very happy to be free. She told me, "I love you now more than ever because you SAVED me!" I sprayed all the bits of the knob and reassembled it and now it works better than it has in ages.
Justin told me that he had considered trying to break the door down. As it was he managed to contain himself and instead slipped her the Gameboy Advance under the door so she would have something to play with while she waited. He's a good brother.
Me: "What's up?"
He: "Dad, something very bad has happened!"
Me: (thinking of all kinds of horrible things that could have happened) "What?!"
He: "Jordyn's stuck in the bathroom! I tried to get her out but the knob won't turn!"
Me: (quite relieved) "Tell her to be calm and that I am on my way home now. Don't worry."
He: "Okay. I'll tell her."
Occasionally, in the fantastic complex that I reside in, the doorknobs just seize up. There's a bit of warning where it doesn't turn quite right, and the bathroom door was giving that warning, but then seemed better. So I left it be and hoped for the best. The "best" being that if it happened it didn't happen with me in there. At least the screws were on the hall side of the door, unlike the time when it was the kids' bedroom doorknob that seized up with Jordyn trapped inside when she was three. At least this time she was older and could understand waiting.
I drove home with only one stop, to pick up some WD40. The first can I've ever purchased. I'm not terribly "handy". It took me about 45 minutes to get home and when I walked in the door Justin shouted out, "Dad's home!" and I heard Jordyn yell, "Yay!" from the bathroom.
I tried the knob and it was stuck fast. Jordyn knows how a door is locked so that wasn't it. I told her to wait for a few more minutes, stuck the WD40 tube into the lock hole and sprayed around a bit, then tried again. No luck. I told Jordyn that I would have to get the screwdriver and she asked, "Am I going to be stuck here forever?" I told her that I didn't think so, got the screwdriver and went about removing the knob.
Once my side of the knob was off I told her to pull the other one off. She did and was quite happy because she could finally see me. The bit that keeps the door closed still wouldn't come out though and Jordyn's half of the knob was the one with the shaft that turns it. I tried a flathead screwdriver but it couldn't apply the right pressure, so... I took apart another doorknob. The one on my room's door.
And that worked. It opened up right away and Jordyn was very happy to be free. She told me, "I love you now more than ever because you SAVED me!" I sprayed all the bits of the knob and reassembled it and now it works better than it has in ages.
Justin told me that he had considered trying to break the door down. As it was he managed to contain himself and instead slipped her the Gameboy Advance under the door so she would have something to play with while she waited. He's a good brother.
Comments