Last week while we were in Memphis, Jesse took us to a restaurant located in an old gas station. As we were leaving, Kate wanted to stop at the restroom. The rest of us waited in the reception area. It is not unusual for her to take a long time, so I didn’t worry when she didn’t come out in, what for most people, would be a reasonable time. In a few minutes, another customer approached the door. Discovering it was locked, she wited for her to come out. She got tired and went in the men’s room. Finally, I decided to check on her. I knocked on the door and asked if everything was all right. It was difficult to hear her through the door. She began to jiggle the door knob. I heard her say it wouldn’t open. I saw that it was the type of knob on many home bathroom doors. It had a pinhole in the center of the knob to allow a sharp object to go through and unlock it. I went to an employee who gave me a spindle that I thought would work. I was on the way back to the women’s room when I saw Jesse and Kate. It turns out that Jesse had been able to communicate to Kate and explain how to unlock the door.
We have a similar lock on a laundry room door that leads to our garage. Kate often locks it when we come home at night. In addition, she obviously locked the door when she went in. For this reason, I was a little surprised that she couldn’t figure out how to unlock it, but this is a good example of the kinds of inconsistencies that occur with great regularity. It is also a good example of my own misjudgment in not trying to explain to her how she could unlock it. My first thought was what can I do to get the door open. I believe I was influenced by my past experience in which explaining things can be very difficult. Jesse came at this with a fresh eye. She did the straightforward thing. She asked Kate if she could see the “thing” in the center of the knob. Kate said she could. Jesse asked her to turn it. She did. It was that simple.
It is always interesting to me how at ease Kate is under somewhat trying circumstances like this. I have lost her a number of times over the past few years. She has never panicked but responded very calmly to the situation. In this particular case, one might have thought she would bang on the door or call for help. She did neither. I’m just glad that the restrooms were right off the reception area where we were waiting. If we had remained at our table, we might have let more time pass. Then she might not have been as calm.
