The morning began like so many mornings before. We were staying in what turned out to be a more run-down RV park in Cape Cod. I was up working before breakfast and needed to use the restroom, so I walked through the chilly morning air to a nearby facility. It was a single-person room, so I locked the deadbolt. Something didn’t seem quite right so I pushed on the door — it swung easily open. I tried again, pulling on the door this time as I engaged the lock and it fastened securely. The fun began when I tried to exit. I was right, it HAD fastened securely — so securely that the lock wouldn’t budge. I tried harder, wiggled it, pulled and pushed on the door, used both hands trying to turn it. Nothing. No matter how I moved the handle, the deadbolt stayed as it was. Dead. Bolting the door closed like it was designed to do. Secure…from both sides. I noticed wryly that the metal around the door frame was broken near the deadbolt as if it had been pried on before. That didn’t help much — I had nothing to pry with.
I took a moment to assess what I had available. I didn’t have a phone, wasn’t wearing my leatherman, and didn’t even have keys on me. The room was small, with no other doors and no windows. There was a vent in the ceiling, but it was too small to attempt to use as an exit. I surveyed the area for possible tools, hoping I could take the deadbolt apart and figure out how to unjam it. The only item of note I found was a large metal service door on the back wall — and it was unlocked! When I tried to open it however, I found that in addition to the lock it was kept closed with several other clips that required a screwdriver to turn, and my fingernails were not strong enough. Back to the search … the bathroom was surprisingly bare inside. I finally discovered that the fluorescent light had a clip on it that I was able to remove. As it was thin aluminum it didn’t help with the screws on the dead bolt, but allowed me to open the service panel door. I was excited with my clever find and stepped through the service panel into the narrow closet behind expecting to find a similar panel on the bathroom next door. My feeling of freedom was short lived — the closet didn’t extend as far as the other bathrooms and had no possible exits.
After double-checking to make sure there was no way out I resumed the search for tools. I found the instruction manual for the water heater, a short piece of 2×4 … and best of all, a strong metal conduit bracket! I hurried back to the door and quickly took out the first screw for the deadbolt. Moving to the second and final screw I found it so rusted I was unable to remove it. My “screwdriver” would simply bend and the screw stayed firmly in place. I tried banging around the screw with the 2×4 and wiggling the housing hoping the screw would break free — all to no avail. Giving up for the moment on the plan to remove the deadbolt, I decided to remove the door knob below the deadbolt to see what I could see outside. I removed the screws and pushed the door knob out from the inside listening to it fall to the sidewalk below. I peered through the hole and was excited to see a man walking by across the road!
I yelled “Excuse me, sir!” Nothing. He disappeared around the side of his truck as I crouched there peeking out through the doorknob hole. It became clear that he was preparing to do some work outside. He put on a work coat and then started walking down the road passing somewhat close to the bathroom. I put my mouth to the door and yelled again: “Excuse me sir! Over here! I’m stuck in the bathroom, the lock broke!” He seemed to not hear me and walked out of site. I tried again, banging loudly on the door for extra effect. It worked! He appeared around the side of the building and came to help. It ended up taking both of us working from both sides of the door to get it open, me working with a screwdriver that the man passed me through the doorknob hole. Finally, after some damage to the locks and jamb we succeeded — and I was free!
Thank God for bathrooms, for locks, for how often I’ve used the locks without adventure, that it was me that was in there when it broke and not one of my kids or someone with claustrophobia…and for the experience of an “escape room” without the costly entrance fee!
