I broke my car again.

It all started when I locked my keys in my car; but not the way normal people lock their keys in their car. I had opened the hood to get the socket wrench to lower the spare (which had shifted and jammed in a weird position) to reach the spare house key on the underside of my car. When that was done I grabbed the magnetic key box, returned the spare, and placed the weird socket wrench thingy back in its’ nook under the hood. Right after I slammed the hood closed, I realized that I left the magnetic key box sitting on top of the engine. I went to the side of the van, reached in the driver’s side, and pulled the lever to pop the hood. Nothing happened. I pulled the lever harder. Nothing moved. I had left the key box very close to the hook of the latch and it was now apparently jamming the mechanism. I pulled and wiggled the lever but to no avail. I tried lifting the hood slightly and trying to open the safety latch with my fingers. Not enough room. It was jammed shut.

So I had just locked my house key in the engine of my car.

That was my last day at the Waltham apartment. All of the keys had to go back and I had to be out of that apartment that day. Shit.

After much prying and wiggling, the lever finally popped and the latch opened. Thank God. I opened the hood, grabbed my key, and slammed the hood closed… slammed the hood closed… slammed the hood closed. The hood wouldn’t close.

I made a few trips around town to whatever service garages might be open. It was the same everywhere. “The latch is broken, you’ll need a new one, but we can’t get to it today.”

Long story short, I made the trip back to New Hampshire with my hood tied closed, the rope looped around the inner latch and the front grill.

Shit. Shit. Shit.