A funny story for you

The other night, after supper, I got stuck in the bathroom. I unlocked the door as usual and turned the door handle, but immediately knew something was not right when I heard a click instead of the door opening smoothly. The few of you who have used the bathroom in my house will know that the light in the bathroom doesn’t work. It hasn’t ever worked for us and we have never looked into getting it fixed. We keep a big flashlight on the shelf just outside the bathroom to bring in if you want light, but I gave up that habit sometime in October and at night I don’t mind the dark.

Anyways, I found myself pulling and tugging at the door which wouldn’t budge. As the door was back-lit I could see exactly what was holding the door shut: basically a metal bar coming out of the door and going into the frame which was not moving. Luckily Jeannette was home and heard my banging around. The two of us worked on the door for about five minutes before she called Kevin for his ‘technical skills’. The two of them worked at it for another half hour or so, taking off the door handle, trying to figure out the hinges, and even trying to force the door open with brute force. Finally we decided that we needed to call the guard to get me out.

Meanwhile, I had just been about to take a shower so all I was wearing was a towel. Luckily the crack of the door was just big enough to allow my sarong to pass through and make me a bit more presentable. Once the guard came and tried the door himself, he called a locksmith. Kevin read me a story from the other side of the door while we waited for the locksmith to come with his tools. After cutting apart the lock and trying to cut the piece holding the door shut, the locksmith basically gave up on taking apart the door handle and went the route of force. The wood of the door finally gave way after he slammed into the door with his shoulder a number of times.

Luckily I am not claustrophobic and found it more of a funny experience than a nerve-wracking one, but I am quickly losing confidence in the locks and door handles here in Burkina!