That elephant stole my car!

I didn't go to the zoo today with Supernerd and the kids to meet the baby elephant, but I should have. If I had, maybe they wouldn't have lost the car.

It's partly my fault, even though I wasn't there. I have a rotten head cold and I really didn't sleep well last night - I felt like I was waking up every half an hour all night because my sinuses and glands hurt so much. So when the time came to go I realised that I was feeling too tired and sick, so I piked.

We planned to go to the zoo mid-afternoon because it's school holidays here and the zoo is usually quite busy, even when the weather is awful. At about 2pm I remembered that the baby elephant is only on view from 11am to 3pm, so they'd really have to hustle if they were going to get there in time.

They arrived at a quarter to three, so naturally Supernerd was keen to park the car and get going. When he arrived he found that the zoo was not as busy as he expected, and he found a parking space right near the front gate.

They rushed into the zoo and got to meet the baby elephant, and then visited the butterflies, the tiger cubs, the orangutans, the sea lions, the penguins and the giraffes. The kids played on the playground while Supernerd drank the worst take away coffee ever (apparently), and then they headed out the back gate, because we always park near the back gate.

Can you see the problem?

We always always always park at the back, and Supernerd had zero recollection of parking the car at the front gate and rushing in. So, from what I understand, they wandered around the carpark at the back for a while looking for the car. It doesn't help that the walls and pathways all around the zoo look the same, so Supernerd had a really good idea of where the car should be, he just didn't realise that it was way over the other side of the zoo.

He then did three sensible things.

He explained to the kids that it was possible that the car was lost, but it was more important that they were all okay.

He rang my Mum and asked her to come and get them. We only have one car, and it was lost.

He rang the police and reported the car as stolen.

When my Mum arrived with emergency rations for the kids (chocolate, milk and bananas) and blankets, she bundled them into her car and Supernerd suggested they do a lap of the zoo, thinking that maybe someone had taken the car for a joyride and left it elsewhere in the carpark.

Sure enough, they found the car just near the front gate, right where they'd left it.

Then he did four more sensible things.

He sent Mum off to bring the kids home.

He rang me to tell me what had happened.

He rang the police to unreport the car as stolen.

He brought home fish and chips.

When the kids got home they told me all about it, and their version pretty much agreed with Supernerd's story.

When Supernerd got home he told me that the baby elephant had moved the car.

I didn't believe him.