31 Days of Life Stories #28 (Carrie's Story)

Today, I thought I'd share a life story that proves that just because something looks the same, it might not be!

The players in this little tale is one of my best friends, Glenda, and her daughter Carrie. Carrie was about 9 years old at the time.

Glenda and her family were out running errands one day. Her husband, Wayne, dropped Glenda and Carrie off at the mall for a quick transaction at Gospeland. He told her he would just stay parked at the curb since she was only going to be inside for a few minutes.

I guess those few minutes turned out to be longer than they thought and Wayne saw his favorite parking spot open up and moved the car there. (Wayne loves to park on the end as far away from other cars as possible).

In the meantime, another brown Monte Carlo, exactly like Wayne and Glenda's, pulled up to the curb in the same spot where Wayne had dropped Glenda off. Wayne turned to Travis (their son sitting in the back seat) and said "Watch, I bet mom and Carrie get in that car."

Sure enough, Glenda and Carrie come out of the mall.  They are talking back and forth and go right to the brown Monte Carlo parked at the curb and get in. There are two people in the back seat, and Carrie talking excitedly CLIMBS over one and sits between them. Glenda slides in the front seat and was talking to Wayne (or so she thought.)

All of a sudden, Carrie says, "Dad how did you change the light on the dashboard clock from green to red?" Glenda turns to Wayne and sees he is not Wayne at all. He is a very young guy!

"Come on, Carrie!" They both climb out of the car and scan the parking lot and see the Monte Carlo that is really their car.

Glenda said later that the people in the Monte Carlo parked at the curb never said one word when Glenda and Carrie got in their car - not even when Carrie climbed over their legs! They were probably in shock. They probably tell their version of this story all the time - "Remember when those two crazies got in our car by mistake?"

It cracks me up to think of Carrie climbing over a stranger's legs to get in the back seat and not even noticing that it was not her brother sitting there. Yet, she was observant enough to notice the color change of a dashboard clock ...

I tease Carrie about this little life story all the time because she is quite the talker even today. I'm pretty sure, though, that she is more observant about the vehicles she gets into now.

Just because something looks the same, it might not be!

This post is #28 in my series, 31 Days of Life Stories. Hundreds of writers are linking up at the 31 Day Writing Challenge hosted by Crystal Stine. There is a wealth of information on many topics. Go visit and see! I'll be posting under the category "Inspiration and Faith."