To be clear, we did not break the man's door handle. In the THREE minutes he was gone my husband took a photograph of the man's license plates, noted the make, model and color of the car, and looked for a hang tag from the nearby gated community. My friends that live there will be glad to know that he is not their neighbor. Nor did he have a disabled hang tag or disabled plate. My husband then waited for my observant neighbor to come to the door and tell us where we would find the owner of the car. In the THREE minutes my husband stood and listened to the man speaking a string of English to my Mexican neighbors. The husband understands a few words of English and the wife none. My husband deduced that this was going to be a long transaction due to the communication barrier and asked the man if he'd be long. I did watch as he opened the rear car door, climbed into the front seat and unlocked the front door from the inside due to the broken handle. I should be so disabled.
When we relayed this story to our friends at lunch yesterday they roared with laughter at the characterization of my husband. Everyone knows that he's the milk toast personality in the family. I'm the mean one and I sat, without saying a word, in the drivers seat of the car in the garage simply waiting for the car to move.
A few years ago when our neighbor's son-in-law "inadvertently" parked in front of our garage leaving town with the keys for a week we did not retaliate. That is not what we do. That is why there are buses and friends that will give us rides. Our neighbors and their relatives have ben very nice to us since and that is what you earn in return for not being vindictive.
My husband also thought it said gal/daughter, but most think gay. It's possible that in Virginia a gal (girlfriend) and daughter can be one and the same, but in either case there was no one else in the car, so I don't know who he consulted for this opinion.