Storage Unit 420

One fateful night in New Castle, Pennsylvania, an elderly married couple was traveling home from the grocery store when their vehicle was hit by a truck that had run a red light at an intersection near their home. It was determined that the driver of the truck had suffered a heart-attack and had lost consciousness just prior to the intersection causing the violent and fatal crash. The driver of the truck was pronounced dead at the scene and so was the husband. The wife however was transported to the local hospital and placed on life support – her outlook was grim.

The hospital did their best to locate next of kin, which according to the records was the son. The son had been granted power of attorney many years earlier but never dreamed he’d ever be faced with a decision that would change his life – and the life of others.

The son had not been home to see his parents in a handful of years but did keep in contact occasionally by phone. He was saddened to hear of his father’s passing and his mother’s condition – and the circumstances of the accident. Given where he lived and the fact that he didn’t care to fly, it would take him three days to get home. As such, he decided to check in with the hospital several times a day knowing he might not get there in time.

On the second day, he realized that his sister may not have been contacted. She lived on the other side of the country, and he hadn’t spoken to – or otherwise thought about – her in some twenty years. He wasn’t sure how to get hold of her, so he called the hospital and asked if his mother had any information about his sister. Perhaps a phone number or location. Thankfully, the hospital was able to assist by providing a phone number.

He had made it to Philadelphia and was awaiting the next bus to Pittsburgh, so he reluctantly decided to call his sister. He began punching in the number. Seven two four…

“Hello?” a voice answered.

“Liz?”

“Yes.”

“It’s Donnie.”

“Hi, it’s been a long time…I already know why you’re calling,” Liz began to cry.

“I feel terrible. How did you find out?”

“Unlike you, I still have friends in New Castle. They called me the night of the accident. Me and Jason have been in New Castle since yesterday morning. How did you find out? Of course, I had no way to reach you.”

“The hospital called me. I guess because I have power of attorney…I really don’t know how they got my number.”

“Mom’s not in good shape. In fact, they don’t expect her to make it through the night.”

“Bummer, I’m in Philadelphia. I won’t get there until around midnight.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Donnie.”

“I’ll let you know when I’m close.”

“Okay, goodbye.”

With that, Donnie heard the boarding call and made his way to the bus. It was about a five-hour journey, and he still wasn’t sure what he was going to do to get from Pittsburgh to New Castle, which was an hour north.

He arrived in Pittsburgh about ten o’clock and had made Uber arrangements while on the bus. He located his driver, and they headed north. During the ride, he called Liz to let her know he was close, and she informed him their mother was still alive. Donnie felt like he couldn’t get there soon enough.

He made it the hospital just shy of midnight. The Uber driver dropped him near the main hospital entrance, but he wasn’t quite sure where to go so he walked up to the main desk.

“Donnie?”

He turned and noticed his sister approaching. He did recognize her, but she had aged.

“Mom’s gone.”

“Bummer, I tried to get here but…”

“I’m sure you did. She’s already been moved to the morgue.”

“So, I can’t see her?”

“You wanna go to the morgue?”

“Um, no.”

“Jason and I are staying at a hotel around the corner. Where you staying?”

“Well, I haven’t thought that far ahead.”

“Of course. Jason’s getting the car. Let’s go out this way.”

Liz and Donnie walked to the side parking lot looking for Jason without speaking a word. Jason saw them first and pulled up to the curb. Liz and Donnie got in and they drove around the corner to the hotel. During the short drive, Donnie and Jason exchanged pleasantries, but Liz and Donnie didn’t speak, at least directly.

Donnie got himself a room and the three spent the next five days handling all the arrangements. Their parents were cremated, and Liz took ownership of their urns. There was a small funeral on the sixth day, which Donnie thought ended everything. They had already addressed the will and Donnie was quite ready to disappear and go home, but there was one remaining item – the contents of the storage unit.

Not one of the three wanted to go to the storage unit but they knew it couldn’t really be avoided. They had no idea what would be discovered, but they assumed it would be a lot of work. Donnie had already checked out of the hotel and wasn’t pleased with having to go to a storage unit. Nonetheless, they all made the journey just outside of town to the storage unit facility.

Jason inserted the gate card and they drove in.

“Which unit is it?” Donnie asked.

“It’s 420,” Jason said while smiling in the rear-view mirror at Donnie in the back seat.

“That’s funny.”

“Is it?” Liz chimed in.

“Let’s all just get through this,” Jason encouraged.

“415, 416, 417, 418, 419, there it is,” shouted Donnie.

Liz turned her head and rolled her eyes, “Really?”

They pulled alongside the garage door and noticed a large dent in the door, as if someone had accidentally run into the door with their car. Jason exited the car and unlocked the garage door. He tried to lift it, but it wouldn’t budge. Donnie tried to help, but it still wouldn’t budge.

The door was damaged enough that the door wouldn’t open. Not what they needed. Jason got the crowbar from his trunk and shoved it under the door and tried to pry the door. It just wouldn’t budge. The three worked at it for ten minutes and finally got the door raised about ten inches.

Liz begged, “We’re wasting our time. Let’s get someone to help us…like the owner.”

“Nonsense,” Jason replied. “We can crawl under there.”

“What? No way,” exclaimed Liz.

As they bickered, Donnie dropped to the ground and slid himself under the door – and disappeared to the other side.

“There’s no lights in here,” Donnie yelled. “You gotta flashlight?”

“Use your phone,” Liz replied.

“Oh yeah.”

Jason slid a flashlight under the door and then slid himself under the door. Liz followed and Jason helped her to her feet. He then turned and kicked the door causing the door to drop to the floor.

“There, I fixed it,” Jason bragged, but as he went to pull it up it wouldn’t move.

“Great, now we’re stuck in here,” Liz said with contempt.

“It would seem. At least we have light.”

“Yeah, great.”

“We’re all going to die, man,” Donnie cried out.

“Let’s all relax,” offered Jason.

“Look at all the shit in here,” Liz blurted out. “This is very overwhelming.”

“Let’s all relax,” Jason repeated. “You still smoke?” Looking at Donnie holding his light pointed at the ceiling.

“Um, yes?”

Jason reached into his shirt pocket and handed Donnie a hand-rolled cigarette, except it wasn’t a cigarette.

“Nice,” Liz said sarcastically.

“We all need to relax, and we’ll get through this,” Jason smiled.

Donnie had already lit his cigarette with his butane lighter that he carried everywhere. He took a long drag and handed it off to Jason. Who then handed it off to Liz.

Donnie couldn’t help himself and posed the question, “So, I never understood why you guys moved to Oregon. I mean, what’s in Oregon?”

Liz responded, “And I never understood why you moved to Maine. I mean, what’s in Maine?”

“Touché,” Donnie stated with irreverence.

Jason replied in an effort to ease the tension, “Because Oregon is less likely to be successfully attacked by alien reptiles who can speak and have large beaks. Just sayin.”

“Aaand, you’re done. Were you already into your pocket before we got here?” Liz spouted as if Jason had enough.

Jason shined his light on his shirt pocket and pointed, “There’s more where that came from.”

“So, you’re hoarding?” Donnie acknowledged.

Donnie offered his butane lighter to Jason and they began to sift through the contents of the unit. Through the process, they rediscovered their childhood. There was an original G.I. Joe doll with accessories, a Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots game, boxes of Hot Wheels cars, an original Coleco pong video game, Barbie dolls, and numerous boxes of baseball cards dating back to the 1950’s, which predated both Donnie and Liz.

It was a treasure trove of their childhood.

They even discovered an old wooden rocking horse, which they knew was their grandmother’s and was hand built by her grandfather. It even had a mane maid of rope that he – as the story goes – made from the rope used from his bed that supported his mattress.

“Did you know about this?” Donnie begged Liz.

“No idea. I just assumed it was all gone.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“This is insane. Do you suppose they kept everything?”

“Well, perhaps. It’s going to take months to go through everything.”

Liz contemplated, “Do you suppose they chose unit 420 intentionally? It’s funny either way. If they intentionally chose it, it’s funny. If they didn’t, it’s funny too.”

“We’ll never know, which is even funnier,” Donnie suggested as he held his breath.

Three hours and three cigarettes later, it had become increasingly cloudy in the unit. There was no air flow and the smoke just lingered. The flashlight barely cut through it. It had also become uncomfortably warm, and they had all begun to sweat.

Jason eventually stated the obvious, “I’m dying of thirst, and we have no water and no munchies. I’m calling 911.”

They had already considered calling 911, but they were paranoid of doing so. Jason wanted to make the call but had a weak signal so he walked toward the garage door to see if he could get a better signal when he noticed a man-door near the front corner of the unit. He squeezed his way through the maze of memorabilia and ended up by a steel door. He yelled out, “Hey, I found another door.”

Liz was not a bit surprised, “Of course. Donnie, didn’t you see the door when you first came in?”

Donnie stammered, “What, what happened?”

“Aaand, you’re done,” Liz replied.

“Yes, I think I am,” exclaimed Donnie.

Jason opened the door and walked out – calling the others.

Liz and Donnie followed, dragging with them a wall of smoke that seemed to want to escape the unit as well. The smoke swirled out slowly and encircled the three of them and then slowly creeped down the lane of storage units.

As Jason opened the driver’s door of the car, he shouted out, “You two, okay?”

Donnie looked at Liz, “Yes, as far as I’m concerned, yes.”

Liz looked back at Donnie, “Yes, everything is fine…we’re fine.”

They hugged briefly and fell into the car.

As they drove away, significantly under the speed of sound, Donnie suggested they keep the unit so they could revisit it and go through the contents again.

Liz smiled and said with the driest mouth imaginable, “We should revisit every April 20^th.”