I am officially on summer break and loving it! I don't ever wake up before 8, and can eat lunch whenever I want- yippee!! One of my student's parents gave me a gift card at the end of the year to get my car's interior and exterior washed and cleaned- I have never been so excited. My car has seen better days, and there is some kind of sticky syrup in my cup holders that now has sprouted mold.
So, on my first Monday of summer, I made my way to this lovely place called 'Mister Car Wash', where the nicest people explain my different cleaning options, where I can get a nice cup of coffee while I wait, and even give me a hug when I tell them how much my car needs this. I hand over my keys and find a spot to wait while I watch the cars going through the wash just outside.
Everything is going just fine until I see all of the workers start to leave the cars they are working on and run over to where the cars are going through the wash machines/assembly line. Ooohhhh, no. My first thought: Maybe a child has wandered where he/she shouldn't be and people are running to make sure everything is alright.
Next, I see a parade of police cars come racing right towards the parking lot, and the workers are now shutting down the gates to the washing section so that no cars can enter or exit. Hmmmmm....my second thought is: Maybe I should have stayed home today!
A mother with her three young kids, who was also waiting for her car to be cleaned, starts to become 'mama bear' in every sense of the word. She tells us all to get down behind the couches, and I listen! I am so confused at this point, but still have my complimentary popcorn from earlier, so I have that on my side :).
The saga continues as the manager breathlessly comes through and says that a bank robber has chosen this car wash to park his 'get-away' car in, and has been ambushed by the police in the front of the carwash line. Ok, my third thought is: how far can I squeeze myself underneath the couch so that nobody can get me- to hell with the popcorn- it was too salty anyways!!
The next part happened so quickly, I didn't even have time to process it. The 'robber' came running through the waiting room, fired two shots into the air, and then left as quickly as he came, shouting swear words over his back. He jumped the fence just next to the lot, and was gone. The policemen came racing after him, yelling at everyone to stay down- and then it was over!
Everyone went back to work, the guy shining shoes in the corner went back to shining, and the mom with three kids got into her clean car and drove off.
My fourth thought- WHAT WAS THAT!!! I may be a little midwestern transplant in the big, southern city, but holy moley!! Ah, the term 'we aren't in Kansas anymore' took on a whole new meaning.
The nice man who had cleaned my car so that it looked better than I bought it gave me a hug, probably seeing the look of being stunned on my face. I took my beautiful car, and went to Dairy Queen. One brownie blizzard later, I decided it was time to go home- and watch the local news channel to see if the story made it.
Summer sure is starting off with some excitement! Whew!
