stranger than fiction

I went back to Lincoln at 4PM to take the recyclables over to the center across the parking lot. I loaded the three full bags into a garbage can on wheels, and made my way out the back door, car keys in hand. I unloaded the bags in front of the 8 foot high, chainlink, locked receptacle. I hefted the biggest one, gained momentum by swinging it back and forth a few times, then heaved it over the top... along with my keys. I just stood there, looking through the chain link, then the corrugated plastic, then the tarp at the pile of cans rising at least 5 feet in the air. I walked all around - solid chain link. I looked over at my car, just sitting there, innocently waiting for me to get back in and drive back home. Just sitting there, along with my cell phone in the front seat.

I walked around the receptacle a second time. Think think think. I can't drive home, I can't call anyone, I can't break in. Or can I? I walked to the back and noticed that some of the chain link in the corner at the bottom was pulled back. I pulled it back a little more, then reached in and tried to pull back some of the corrugated plastic. There's a hole in the tarp! And what's sitting there, at the bottom of the heap, in the corner, staring right at me? My keys. I reached in with my right hand, blindly, groping around, touching can after can, now kneeling, not low enough, now laying flat on the wet concrete, my left arm out to my side to help me keep my balance, my right hand stretching as far as it could go. Was that my keys? No - just another can. How far down do these cans go? Down down. I wondered for a brief moment what I looked like. I wondered what I'd say to the policeman when he came over to investigate the crazy woman trying to break into the aluminum can collection site. I wondered why there was a hole in the tarp in the first place if nobody had ever tried to break in before, and if so, why? Maybe they'd heaved THEIR keys over the top, too.

About to give up, feeling my right wrist chafing and burning, I finally closed in the car door opener part of my keys, and thought I heard my car alarm go off. Oh god, seriously. People were still streaming out of the school, the carnival now over, me lying on the ground, now my left leg hovering about a foot over my right leg, my left arm still out. I quickly pulled my hand out, WITH my keys, brushed off my jeans, noticed the red welt raising on my wrist, and nonchalantly walked to my car, waving at everyone, got in and quickly drove off.