The locks on our doors are really quite clever and quaint. They add to the charm of living in an old building in Centro Historico Mazatlan. The door latch is directly controlled by a spring-loaded rod that you pull out to open the door. If you want to leave the door unlocked, there is a lever that you move to hold the rod in the extended position. There is no knob on the outside of the door. You either leave the door unlocked or you use the key to move the rod.

We noticed the first time we went out back that the lever that holds the rod in place is painted in place a doesn't move. We tried the key for the front door, but it doesn't work in the back door. Okay, no problem. When we go out back we just don't close the door all the way. No problem. Except for my father.

While I was growing up, my father used to follow me around saying, “Close the door!”, “Don't leave the door open!”, “You're letting the air conditioning out!”, “When you open something, close it!”. Dad, you'll be glad to know that your instruction finally stuck.

Chuck and the dogs were outside playing in the back yard. I went out to join them and closed the back door behind me. I didn't think a thing of it until we went to go back inside. As soon as Chuck moved toward the door I knew what I had done.

In a bit of a panic, I looked around the back yard. It is surrounded by high walls. Even if we could get over them, We would be landing in the yard of someone we don't know who doesn't speak English. That can't be good. We don't know anybody here. We started debating how much it would cost us to break a window.

It was at that moment that I heard, “Shit!”

I looked at Chuck and said, “That was English!” We both looked up. We were still standing by the door and all we saw was the patio ceiling, so I went out in the yard and looked up. Our upstairs neighbor was on his balcony talking on the phone. I yelled “Hello?”, and thankfully he answered.

It turns out our upstairs neighbor is a very nice man from El Paso. He knows our landlord, Marvin, and in fact had just seen him out front. He went to get Marvin to rescue us. Marvin came through and let us in, and said he would have a locksmith here the next day. I thanked him profusely and walked him to the front door and let him out. I opened the door just in time to see the water truck turning the corner and driving away.