Breaking and Entering

We arrived home from night market one evening to discover that we'd locked all of the padlocks on our gate and doors...and had forgotten to bring a set of house keys with us.

The entire family, minus Dad, had gone to night market that evening. Dad was out of the country for a few days. There was no secret hiding spot for spare keys, all keys were stored safely inside the house. It was quickly getting dark--if we couldn't find a way to break into our own home, we would have to start calling friends to see if there was anyone who could pick us up and let us crash at their home until Dad came back with his set of keys (when there's 7 of you, finding a friend with enough floor space for everyone is no small matter).

We really wanted to get back into our house, so we went into ultra stealth mode. First, we all climbed the wall in front of our house. That was easy, it was only a 4-foot high cement wall--more for keeping stray dogs out than actual people. My sisters were in the habit of climbing the wall for the fun of it at any and all times of day.

So...we were in the front yard. Getting into the backyard was slightly harder, because there was an 8-food high fence made out of pointed wooden boards. This was back in the day when I was the tallest of the kids (my current standing: 2nd shortest, only taller than the 8 year old), so we rolled the trashcan over to the 2nd fence, and I stood on top of it in order to boost myself over. I dropped down on the other side, and from there, was able to slide the lock on the wooden fence and let the rest of my family into the backyard.

As luck would have it, we stored our ladder (an 8-foot high step ladder) in the backyard. We knew that our one hope was if the girls had left their balcony door unlocked--or, if it was locked, if they'd left the slats of their window unlocked. I had to get up to the balcony to find out--a risky endeavor, because if door and windows turned out to be locked, getting down from the balcony would be much harder than getting up was!

"Backyard"/Outdoor Kitchen

Balcony and Pointy Wooden Fence

Mom and Isaac held the ladder while I climbed up to the very top, and stepped up from there to the edge of the balcony. I climbed over the balcony railing and found myself safely on the 2nd story--but still outside the house. I tried the bedroom door--locked, as it was supposed to be. However, the window slats were not locked closed, so I was able to open them and stick my arm between the bars on the windows, and twist the door handle, which automatically unlocked the push-button lock. I was in!

I rushed downstairs, grabbed the keys, and let the rest of my family into our home. It was very nearly a big misadventure, but instead, we merely learned how easy it was to break into our home (even with no experience or equipment) if you really wanted to. It's safe to tell this story now because my family moved out of that house more than 5 years ago. I think it's sitting vacant now, but no worries, I don't plan on trying to break into any more houses in my life...

{This is Day 12 in my 31 Days series: 31 Days of Growing Up in Malaysia}