Imagine Her Relief When Her Husband Came Home

We took a stunningly scenic drive down to Manapouri from Queenstown and en route bought the Otago Daily Times, ‘the voice of the south.’ A front page story was about an Auckland woman whose 14-month-old son mistakenly locked her in a closet and she had to endure seven hours while the toddler had the run of the house, with her pounding in vain for hours to try and get help.

Her husband wasn’t expected home until midnight, her brother, Andrew, not until 11 pm. It was 10 am and she listened anxiously as the child grew weary of hearing stories through the closet door and began crashing and banging around their Mount Eden home.

All of her screaming upset the youngster who began to cry. So she entertained him for a bit more time by playing with her fingers beneath the door, all the while trying to ram it back open to no avail. After an agonizing seven hours, her husband decided to blow off the after work function and came home at 4:30. You can just imagine her relief hearing that car pull into the driveway!