TRAPPED IN PARIS
TRAPPED IN PARIS
It was the usual double door entry. We pushed through the 1st set of doors, only to hit the 2nd set with a dead stop, locked. With a quick glance at each other, we turned to go back inside. We were hit again, like running into a brick wall. Both...Were...Locked. We ricocheted from one set of doors to the other, shaking them more violently each time.
Panic quickly engulfed us as we continued to rattle and beat on the doors. Followed by yelling and a little screaming. Please somebody let us out of here. We had to get on the bus at 8am, it was after midnight, 1am or so at this point. Frantic and scared, there wasn't much we could do. We just paced in the rectangular prison we found ourselves in. Burst of yelling and pounding on the door continued.
There we were, 2 American teens, trapped in an entrance of a Bar in Paris, France.
Apparently in 1976 Paris did indeed fold up their sidewalks and turn out the lights, because nobody came by. If anyone heard us they ignored us, or maybe this was a common occurrence, I don't know.
Inside, the Nightclub was dark. Outside, there was some light that came in from the street.
The early morning hours ticked by. We were going to get in so much trouble, I could feel it. But they would have to find us first, and no one knew where we were. Our only crime was staying out too long. Not uncommon for teenagers after all, so maybe they won't be too hard on us. We couldn't control all of this, I mean who locks both sides of an outside door? This is a serious fire hazard. I convinced myself it was their fault, and if we died in a fire they were to blame, as there was no escape.
Placing the blame on them didn't help our situation. Heidi had to pee. She had been mentioning this for about an hour now. There was a pile of newspapers in the corner, tomorrows edition perhaps. There was nothing else she could do. Our rescue wasn't likely to happen anytime soon. She laid some out and did her business.
We were still there when the sun came up. The hour of our departure was getting dangerously close, and we were frantic. Dread filled the space. I was about to give up hope of being freed on time. I kept looking at my watch. We both kept looking out the door hoping for some sign of life. Those buses run on a schedule, there was an itinerary to follow, we knew this.
Finally, with maybe a half hour or so until departure, a man approached holding keys. Oh, thank you, thank you. As he started to unlock the door he looked at me like he expected to talk with us. Explain what we were doing, why were we in there, and for how long? You have got to be kidding me, we don't have time for this nonsense. Our bus was warming up, as the key turned in the lock. When the door opened we shot out of there like 2 caged animals let back into the wild, blew past that man, and never looked back.
We ran the few blocks back to the hotel. I hit my room like the Tasmanian Devil, gathered my stuff and was back out that door in about a minute. I landed in the parking lot and calmly got on the bus with everyone else, like nothing happened. I sat down and decompressed. I made it, by the skin of my teeth, but I made it.
In short order we were ready to roll. But someone was missing. Where was Heidi? We waited and waited. I couldn't figure it out. she should of been there by now. We waited and waited some more. A few minutes late okay, but this was getting seriously late. The bus was expected to leave at a certain time. We continued waiting. What was she doing, ordering up room service? Or maybe she collapsed. After all we hadn't slept a wink, I don't even know if we sat down. Finally I saw her in front of the bus, surrounded my adults. She was in trouble. Later they called her Dad, said they'd send her home, at his expense, if there was another incident. She figured as long as we were back at the hotel, all was good, so she showered and took her time. She took too long.
We were in hysterics about it later. I was never more panic-stricken in my life. I haven't seen Heidi in well over 40 years. I had been thinking about her lately, I didn't know why. I decided to look her up, hoping we could reminisce and laugh about this again. But we can't. She died last year at the age of 60 in Las Vegas where she lived. I waited too long. RIP my friend.
Comments