It was the day before Mothers’ Day, around 1976 and I went to Fairview Mall to buy Karen a present. I knew what I wanted and so I would just be in and out in a few minutes.

I arrived mid-afternoon, parked my car and headed for the nearest entrance. I remember buying the gift and heading back to the parking lot. Lo and behold my car was gone. This was crazy. Who would want to steal a 1975 Plymouth Valiant?

I looked around to make sure I had come out of the correct entrance. As far as I could tell there was only one entrance for me to come out of.

I went back to the mall and phoned the police. I described the car and mentioned that the front licence plate was missing. It had been stolen a few days earlier. I remember telling the police operator that the car was probably moved for a joke and that it’s probably been moved to another part of the parking lot. Really! Who would steal a Plymouth Valiant?

Anyway they sent out a request to be on the lookout for a brown Plymouth Valiant with the front licence plate missing. I went outside to wait for the police car.

After about 15 minutes they drove up and after introducing myself they explained they had found the car and took me to where it was parked. So my intuition was correct; it had been moved for a joke.

Imagine my surprise when I realized that the car was exactly where I had parked it. I had, in fact, come out of a different door than I had entered.

I felt so stupid. “Don’t worry about it, sir”, they said, “it happens all the time. Just have a nice day”. “Thank you officers, I really appreciate your understanding and help. Please don’t forget to cancel this call so that I don’t get stopped going home”. “Don’t worry, it’s cancelled already”, they replied. And off I drove with a funny, if not embarrassing, story to tell.

Got home, told Karen what had happened and we had a good laugh about it.

Two days later, Karen, Adam and Jenny went to the airport to pick up Karen’s parents, Harry and Sara. Harry and Sara were arriving from Tel-Aviv after a 3 week tour of Israel.

Karen and the kids were waiting in the car in the arrivals area and Harry and Sara got in the car and just as Karen pulled away from the curb an RCMP officer put up his hand and said, “Halt!”. Karen rolled down the window and asked what the problem was. “This car has been reported as being stolen. It matches the description because the licence plate is missing. Please turn off the engine and come with us”.

Karen tried to explain what had happened to me in the Fairview Mall parking lot and that if they checked they would find out the report had been cancelled. The RCMP officer was not buying Karen’s explanation and marched her into their office. It took 2 hours to sort it all out. Meanwhile, Harry, Sara, Adam & Jenny, had to sit and wait in the car on a hot May day.