Later on in the day I stopped in at the mallrat-infested Elizabeth City shopping centre to get some cash out. As I walked back to my car, I was followed slowly by someone who looked like they just wanted a parking space. I thought I would just test the waters, so to speak, and enacted a prank.

I walked up to a car in the parking lot and pretended it was mine. I took my keys out of my pocket and approached the driver’s side of the car, and looked casually around to see if anyone was walking towards that car. Thankfully there wasn’t anyone. So I fiddled with my keys for a few seconds, just long enough to make the driver think I was actually going to get in this car (I had no shopping with me).

I pretended to stick the key into the door and try to turn it, only to frown at it and lift my keys closer to my face to fiddle with them longer. Surely the driver would’ve left by now. I looked over and saw he was there and gave him a wave, the kind of wave where you say “won’t be long” with just a wave and went back to my keys.

Fiddled with them for a few seconds longer and looked puzzled. I look inside the car, making an even more puzzled look on my face and walk to the back passenger window. I look inside, check the rear number plate, and then look up with a big “Oh!” look on my face, and do a 270 degree scan of the car park. I look surprised & embarrassed and point my arm towards my real car and walk off towards that with my head bowed.

Tom is known to be not the smartest person in the world, and I thought, well maybe it’s just Tom. Today I was proven that it actually runs in his family. His Aunty Mary stayed over for a week at his house, and left a few things behind including a small keyring with a light on it, a mouse, a keyboard, and a laptop. Yes, a laptop.

Tom’s mum came home and later on phoned up Aunty Mary and the conversation went a bit like this:

Tom’s Mum: Hi, have you left anything behind?
Mary: Not that I can think of.
Tom’s Mum: What about a keyring, with a light on it?
Mary: Oh yeah that’s Daniel’s…
Tom’s Mum: Anything else?
Mary: Noooooo….
Tom’s Mum: What about a laptop?
Mary: Oh! Right…