Mortification

Well anyway, it was nearly eight thirty and time to pick up the Queen of Night from her gym end-of-year thingy. So I lit a smoke, left it by the front door, and in my usual way turned the house upside down looking for my car keys - which were in my pocket.
By the time I got there I was a little bit late and there was the Queen of Night standing in the carpark with a couple of concerned looking adults.  Well, I thought, we still haven't paid the gym fees and they're probably the organisers.  So I got out of the car and sauntered over to thank them for the bill and reassure them that the money would be in next week. As I sauntered over the young queen came tip-toeing toward me in her bare feet, hands over her mouth in an expression of cultivated shame while the two adults looked on.  The woman in particular looked fairly unimpressed.
"Tim..." said the Queen. "I kind of threw the key on the roof and we can't get it down."
"Eh?.." I said, reasonably incredulous.  Incredulity is an expression I often employ in my dealings with the Queen of Night even though I should know by now that nothing should surprise me. I had a vision as she explained what she had been doing with the key. Obviously the organiser had entrusted her with the key, she said she had been throwing it up and down and then one throw had ended up going the wrong way, sending the key onto the roof.  Obviously these poor people were now unable to lock up the venue and leave, and were standing around wondering what to do.

I had a small ladder in the car.   I didn't think it would be tall enough.  We were only two blocks away from my work. There was a bigger ladder there, I knew.  I wasn't quite ready to apologise for my stepdaughter's actions, or maybe I wasn't getting the vibe from the people that an apology was necessary. The woman looked unimpressed certainly, but the man seemed quite philosophical about it and not in any hurry.
"A ladder'd be the thing." He said cheerily.
"There's a big one at my work," I said "it's just around the corner." I waited for him to tell me that would be helpful, and could I go get it.
He looked off into the distance. "That feller who was just down there would've had one too." he said, almost to himself. "Would've been handy."

In the absence of any instruction I went back to the car to fetch my three-stepper out of the boot. It looked like you might almost reach from the top step.
"You won't reach from that." said the Queen.
"It's probably a job for a small person on somebody's shoulders on the top step." said the man helpfully.
That didn't sound very safe to me.  I placed the ladder and climbed up... nowhere near tall enough. I considered the option of showing displeasure - telling the Queen off.  She was skipping from side to side wondering if she was going to get a shoulder-ride. The two adults still appeared largely unconcerned, as if the delay was neither here nor there. I decided to leave displeasure for now and stick with helpful. After all we were holding them up.

"My work is literally two blocks away." I said to the cheery fellow. "I can get you a big extension ladder. It won't fit in the car though; I'll have to run round and carry it back." I waited for him to offer to help me.
"We'll wait." he said, smiling. 
I set off running.  I ran until I got out of sight and then walked.  I am a smoker after all and half a block is plenty, but I felt I should give the impression of enthusiasm.  I still had a heavy ladder to carry back.
By the time I got to the workshop I'd had a better idea. The van was there.  I grabbed a ladder and put it in the back, pressed the button and waited for the roller door to grind its way up, backed the van out and pressed the button again to let the door slowly close again.  Easy.

"Sorry about this," I said as I unfolded the ladder.
"Me go up!" said the Queen, pretending to be half her age again.
"No you won't." said the man.
"So you're the gym organisers?" I asked as I climbed the ladder.  I was still thinking to introduce myself and reassure them about the bill.
"No no." he said. "We just thought we'd better wait to you arrived."

"What does this key look like?" I said once I was on the roof "No, don't worry, there it is."
About a metre onto the flat roof I saw a red key-ring. as I got near I saw the oddest key.  It was small, chunky and made of plastic.  It looked like it had been coloured red with permanent marker. It looked more like the sort of toy key the Queen was fond of collecting.
"It's Mummy's key-ring." She said."

I looked at the man
"I thought it was the key to the gym." I said.
"I thought it was your house key." he replied.
"Oh." I said, handing the key to the Queen.  "Well thanks for waiting with her."

And later in the car I said.
"So how was gym?"