I’d have been home well before now, had I not been so very, very late for lunch with two friends I hadn’t seen for nearly a year. I circled the mall parking lot more intent with the ticking time on my watch than the location of the space I scooted into. The mall is one of those outdoor sprawls with parking nooks and crannies that can swallow a car the moment you exit and turn your back.
As an aside, it’s also the mall where I broke my leg last summer.
We were to meet at the fireplace (in Phoenix, a fireplace?) located in the center of the main mall area. Walkways from the giant parking lot circle the main area and spiral inward like a concrete spider web. Checking my watch, if nothing more than to confirm what a crud I was for being so late, I located my friends and off we went for two hours of iced tea, the best Cobb Salad in town and conversation more delicious than lunch.
Promising to meet more than once a year, we hugged and went off in search of our respective winding walkway back to what shall henceforth be known as the car-eating parking lot.
I wound my way to the lot only to discover my car wasn’t there. Ah … wrong pathway. Backtracking, I found another spoke within the wheel-o-parking-lot-fortune. Nope. Not there. Again. Once more. It took a good half hour on a nearly one-hundred degree day to finally locate the right path where I finally found my car. I hope no one watched as I slid in and kissed the steering wheel.
Did I mention this is the mall that broke my leg?
P.S. Happy Earth Day, to all my Dancing Bird friends!
A car sitting for a couple of hours in near 100 degree heat! Gosh, I hope you didn’t burn your lips kissing the steering wheel!
Getting in a car that’s been closed up and sitting in such heat can very quickly make one appreciate the relative coolness of the temperatures outside the vehicle.
Dave
Yes. That and your cool temperatures in Washington.
It only happens when it is above 80 degrees–if it had been 65, your car would have been right where you left it. 🙂