Slim Jim

Slim Jim
It was Thanksgiving holiday 2004, and Michael, Meghan and I were in the Los Angeles area visiting my family. We, along with my brother, Adam, and his girlfriend, Katie, decided to go and see some of the sites. Our first stop was downtown LA to check out the new Disney Opera House. Our trip started smoothly with no traffic into downtown, and a few lucky turns leading us right where we were headed. We parked the car in crazy expensive downtown parking and headed over to our destination. We quickly learned that to even enter the building, students had to pay $8, so we tried to make the best of the experience and started exploring the outside garden. After realizing this wouldn’t last long, Meghan and I ran back to the parking lot to retrieve the car before being charged for the next 20 minutes. Although we were a little late, the man was sympathetic and gave us a cheap rate. So, we found a meter spot and began waiting there for all of our party to gather so we could leave.
Once everyone arrived, we decided to put some quarters in the meter to take pictures of the fascinating building. Suddenly, Michael realized he had lost our camera. We searched the car, but Michael decided he had set it down somewhere and took off to find it. By this time, I was a little frustrated, and was doing my best to stay in a chipper mood. I was relaxing in the passenger seat, and Meghan had taken a seat in the back. When Michael got back with the camera, I was relieved. I got out of the car, and as an automatic reaction hit the lock button. After we all stood around the car for a few minutes deciding what we were going to do, Meghan got out of the backseat. I noticed a second too late that I didn’t have my keys, and yelled “NO” just as Meghan slammed the door shut. We were locked out. This is where the fun really begun.
Seeing I was a little flustered, Katie and Michael quickly went looking for help. A police officer and security guard pointed them toward the courthouse to see if we could get help there. Katie returned with no luck—they couldn’t use a slim jim on our car due to liability issues.
I was beginning to panic, and to make things worse, we were running out of change for the meter. Luckily, Michael talked to parking enforcement (who passed by about every 5 minutes), and after telling us they couldn’t help us either, they were understanding of our predicament and agreed to let our expired meter slide.
Katie remembered she had AAA, but had left her wallet at home. She called her mom for all the info, and AAA told her they’d be able to do it as long we could vouch that she was who she claimed to be. Although we all thought we were in the clear, everyone was still murmuring about the fact that those people who are supposed to “protect and serve” us, couldn’t! Michael got so fumed, he decided to go back to the courthouse to try to work his manipulating magic.
Michael returned with good news. He, along with some helpful security guards at the courthouse, had persuaded a sheriff, Officer Penna, to give him a slim jim if AAA didn’t work out for us. Michael threw out a few classic lines like “we’re poor college students” and “my wife’s pregnant” (he also used this one a month later to get out of a ticket) to sway the nice sheriff. Michael also convinced him that he knew how to use a slim jim because he had broken into cars with hangers before.
Well go figure, AAA didn’t work out. The lady on the phone apparently didn’t know what she was talking about. The tow truck man that came to help wouldn’t open our car unless Katie had a picture ID because of, of course, liability. So, Michael once again returned to the court house, hoping the sheriff was still willing to help.
After what Michael described as a rather shady slim jim exchange for his driver’s license, we were closer than ever at getting back into our car. Of course, Michael came to realize that he’s not an expert at breaking into cars like he had claimed to be. Once again, our hopes of getting back into the car began to dwindle. We were very successful at locking the doors over and over, but still hadn’t found the right spot or angle to unlock them. After about five minutes of trying (and strangely no one being suspicious of us trying to break into a car on a busy LA street), and I began asking passing pedestrians if they knew how to use a slim jim. That didn’t really work out either. Finally I heard a high pitched squeal from Michael—he had found the right angle, and unlocked our car at last! We were free!
We all got in the car and drove up the block to drop off the slim jim to our new best friend. Another funny twist—no one at the metal detectors questioned Michael as he handed them the slim jim in order to get past without beeping. Thank you Officer Penna!
Heidi 2004

It was a hot summer day in LA

My brothers and our neighbors sure got into a lot of trouble when they were kids, but no one imagined it would go far enough to put their mom and little sister’s lives at risk. It was a hot summer day in LA, and my brothers and their neighbor friends were selling lemonade on the corner of our street. I was probably three or four at the time and had been out with my mom. As we drove around the corner, our neighbor ran up to our van and frantically told my mom that the lemonade stand had been robbed. My mom was furious that someone would rob some little boys’ lemonade stand, and being the determined women that she is, quickly drove after the thieves in the direction our neighbor pointed us.
My mom caught up with the thieves and pulled up behind their stopped car. She planned on quickly giving them a lecture, confiscating the stolen goods, and returning to the lemonade stand to close it up for the day. So, she jumped out of the car and left me in my car seat directly behind the driver’s seat. I watched my mom begin talking with the teenage boys as one ran behind her and hopped into the car. Since she thought it would be a quick stop, she had left the keys in the car. Not very smart thinking on her part. So, the boy easily drove away with our car, and me in the back seat.
While we were cruising around the neighborhood, this boy’s friends were pointing guns at my mom as she laughed at them, insisting they were BB guns. Again, not very smart thinking on her part. Luckily the boys didn’t want as much trouble as they realized they were in when my mom informed them her little girl was in the stolen car. So, they lowered their guns and hopped in their cars to find their buddy.
Meanwhile, I was remaining perfectly quiet in the backseat of my van. I can’t really remember what I was thinking about the whole situation. Eventually, the driver saw his friends, parked the car, and jumped in with them, leaving me all alone and with a very full bladder. Being the smart 4 year old that I was, I got myself out of the car seat and the car. Then I began running up and down the street yelling, “They’ve got my mommy, they’ve got my mommy.” My neighbor was out looking for me by then and found me a few blocks away from home. Unfortunately for her, my bladder was still full and I wet on her front seat.
A telephone man who had seen everything called the police and then drove my mom home. My mom was horrified when the police told her that they weren’t just teenage boys, but members of a very serious gang. And even better—they weren’t just BB guns.