Childhood Memories of growing up in Uptown New Orleans with siblings and parents, including a time of getting caught in the bathroom and being saved by a fireman.
How can I forget the time when I was a kid and got stuck in the bathroom but then had the chance to be saved by a fireman!
That morning, it was already a little past 7:30 AM when we had to leave in order to get to school on time. Sure enough, I had a hard time getting into the bathroom for normal things and was mad that David took longer than usual and had actually locked me out, as I am the youngest of three children. Dad had always told me not to use the lock, since it sometime got stuck – it was one of those old fashioned “skeleton keys” for the doors that most older homes had.
So after I closed the bathroom door that morning, I struggled but was able to turn and lock the door just as David was trying to tease me about something by coming in. Feeling rather over confident and bragging my independence both to my brother and sister, I gingerly combed my hair as Mom, who hardly every raised her voice, yelled, “It is time to go, Keith John Horcasitas!!!”
Feeling a little trepidation yet knowing that at least I'd escaped the wrath of Dad, who had already caught the bus to work, I quickly attempted to turn the skeleton key to open up the bathroom door. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't engage the key properly and started to cry. By that point, Mom had had enough and needed to get David and Helen to school on time, so she got a neighbor's maid, Millie, to come stay with me till she came back from school.
I almost thought of another way out of the bathroom but was too afraid to try it. My late uncle, Mario Zervigon, who had lived in our mainly 2nd story house previously, was an engineer and had devised a neat chute-like fixture to the bathroom so we could easily deposit our dirty clothes downstairs where the washer and dryer were located. The chute was at a steep 45 degree angle and only about 2 feet wide with a sheet metal perimeter that went down about 12 feet, so I was too afraid to take that plunge – although many times David and I had dreamed of doing something like that!
By the time Mom got back, I had tried and tried to get the key to turn and even used some tricks that Millie had suggested, like rubbing the key with soap, but to no avail. Finally, desperate to get her son out, Mom called the Fire Department, which came promptly to our house in one of those bright red trucks. The Firemen used one of the cherry picking ladders to position next to our shower bathroom window. I helped by raising the window and loosening the screen latches. The Fireman had a great disposition, so he calmed me down and made it fun!
I got a cool ride down with the Fireman using the swinging mechanical ladder only to get a swift swatting on my backside by Mom that I knew I truly deserved – but I'd cried so much in that crisis and had so much fun with the Fireman that no more tears came out. When Mom brought me to school late that morning, the word had spread quickly and everyone greeted me with a hero-like welcome and cheers. My English teacher told me my writing assignment was to tell about what had happened.
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How can I forget the time when I was a kid and got stuck in the bathroom but then had the chance to be saved by a fireman!
