Not something else

I thought I'd turned a corner in my woeful tale of automotive aggravation. The adjuster took a look at the car this morning and told me what he could give me for some superficial damage--minor nicks--on the dash because of the radio theft. That was a pleasant surprise as it's money unrelated to replacing the radio. Someone else will be contacting me about that.

So I was feeling pretty good about how the situation is being handled. Then late this afternoon/early this evening I was sitting in my apartment and heard a car alarm going off.

Don't. Tell. Me. It's. Something. Else.

Sure enough, that's my car horn bleating and the lights flashing. I turned it off and took a look around the vehicle. I don't notice anything out of the ordinary or anyone around. Truth be told, it would be pretty bold for someone to be attempting to break into it in broad daylight when most people are returning home from work. I don't think that's what happened.

Instead, my fear was much deeper. This triggered alarm surely means that something electrical is wrong. Whether it's related to the break-in or the new instrument cluster, I can't say. I didn't know if the thief fiddled with the alarm, but I thought it might be worth having checked out. I had no clue where to look, so I thought it was a question worth raising to the insurance company. Better to raise the potential for it now than a week or month down the road.

The person I talked to in claims didn't have an answer for my question and thus directed me to the adjuster. I left a message and expect to hear from him in the morning.

In the meantime I thought about it and wondered if there was the off chance that the arrangement of keys in my pocket might have set it off. I wasn't exactly close to the car, but maybe I was close enough for it reach? Yes, by now I'm completely paranoid about what may go wrong with the car.

I headed out for knit night and took along the GPS, not because I needed directions but so I could listen to the voice periodically. The eerie silence when driving without a radio leaves me listening to every little creak and noise. This feeds my currently anxious state. The voice navigation was to be my distraction.

I shared the story of this latest development and my theories as to what might be the cause of the phantom alarm with one of my fellow knitters. She called her fiancé, who shot down most of my theories. The rational explanation, which is testable, is that somehow I unknowingly pressed the alarm button on the key fob.

I'm feeling better about this being the most logical answer for what happened, although tonight I may sleep restlessly with an ear cocked toward the parking lot. At the rate which this car has generated drama, I feel like I need to be doubly prepared for something out of the ordinary to occur.