Avery Kwong

Mrs. Wilson

Expos Writing

9 April 2014

How To Lose A Bright Red Car

It was a warm Tuesday night as Elia and I walked through the busy parking lot. Hundreds

of attendees were filing out from the marquee, eager to get to their car as quick as possible.

The Goo Goo Dolls and Matchbox Twenty just performed at Sleep Train Pavilion, and it was one

of the best concerts we had ever seen. Our ears were ringing, the memories of the

performance were still racing through our heads, and we were both sad it was over. But after

three hours of standing and dancing in place, sitting in a comfortable, leather-seated car

sounded fantastic.

So we rushed past the crowd, weaving in and out through parked cars and hurried

people. Our remaining energy carried us through the gravel parking lot as we swiftly dodged

open doors and narrow gaps. Cars began lining up at the exit, but we had yet to even find ours.

We didn’t remember exactly where we parked the car, but we knew for SURE we parked it to

the right of the venue in view of that giant tree in the distance. Once we arrived at the apparent

spot, we looked all around us, but there was no sign of her car.

“How could we possibly lose it? It’s a BRIGHT, RED, CAR!” Elia yelled out loud to no one

in particular. I stood there and laughed at how ridiculous our situation seemed. She was not

very amused by that.

“I swear this is where we parked…” I said with a confused look on my face. “It could’ve

have just disappeared…could it?”

“That’s ridiculous. Don’t worry, we will find it; we just have to look a little more. It’s

around here somewhere.”

I wasn’t worried at all. It was virtually impossible to misplace a car like the one Elia

owned. It’s a red, Audi coupe and could be spotted from a mile away. It would definitely be

distinguishable amongst all of the other cars, so disappearing was not a possibility. We

continued searching around the parking lot, and then suddenly, we saw it.

“Over there!” Elia yelled over to me. “I see it, I told you it was over here!”

With relief, we ran over to the red car hiding behind another car. That must’ve been

why we couldn’t find it! But as we approached it, our eyes rolled.

“This isn’t your car. It’s just a Hyundai…” In our defense, it was red and looked exactly

like her car.

At this point, we had spent about twenty minutes looking around for Elia’s evasive Audi.

I began to feel a deep feeling of distress. Maybe the unthinkable did happen. There are

thousands of cars in that parking lot. Stealing any one of them would be easy enough to pull off.

Simple disorientation turned into serious confusion. The parking lot had gotten a lot emptier, so

why had we not seen the car? We checked the lot in every spot and without success. More than

forty-five minutes passed since the concert ended and we were still no further to finding the car

than we were in the beginning. Elia became seriously distressed.

“What if someone took the car?”

“No, I highly doubt that.”

“But…what if that did happen! I wouldn’t know what to do!”

“Let’s just keep looking!”

I even went to the extent of continuously pressing the emergency car alarm button on

Elia’s key, but that failed. Only a few straggling cars were left occupying the lot and ours was

nowhere to be found. We had to ask an employee.

“Excuse me! Is there a different parking lot besides this one? We lost our car…” Looking

back I realize how stupid we must’ve looked: a couple of teenagers aimlessly walking around for

their car. They must be irresponsible of course.

“Yes there is! If you turn around and go down there, there is a separate parking lot.”

“Thank you!”

We sprinted towards the direction the man pointed to, desperate just to know that her

car was not actually stolen. All the while I was pressing the emergency alarm button, just in

case it decided to finally work. But it didn’t need to because within seconds, we spotted her

bright red car.

“I told you it was fine! Ha!” I smiled and told Elia.

“Oh thank god we found it! My mom would’ve killed me!” Elia exclaimed as she

punched me in the arm for not remembering where we parked. “We better not ever do that

again”. With rolling eyes and a smirk on her lips, the look on her face was worth all the hassle.