of door knobs & locks

i have been very insistent about mum not locking her bedroom door when she sleeps. but she simply refused to heed my words. in fact, it had almost become a reflex action of hers. she believes bee and his mum will kill her as she is in their way of wanting to take over my property. although it sounds totally illogical and even like a joke to us, her fear is very real to her. and so, for the last many many months, whenever she walks into her room, she'd lock her door automatically. and when she does so, the danger of me not being able to reach her when and if she gets choke, gets an asthma attack, gets a heart attack, etc become very very real. and certainly, there were several occasions where she couldn't drag herself to unlock the door due to her breathlessness.

to a very large extend, it is my fault cos i had lost the keys to her room. and i had earlier procrastinated about changing the lock (the door knob type where one needs to press a button from inside to lock it). now, it is almost impossible for me to do anything to her lock cos she is superbly suspicious of my every single action. i had wanted to change the lock last month but given her condition, it was not appropriate. and this week, 2 days ago to be specific, i finally got a window of opportunity when she finally decided to head to the rehab center.

now, i had 2 choices. i could replace it with a new door knob/ lock or i could manipulate the existing lock to prevent it from locking. key to these options is the need to allow me to open the door whenever i want from outside. if i replace it, i would have a new set of keys and she can lock herself in for all she cares. but i decided against this option. i was sure her imagination would run wild when she sees a new door knob. and her sense of security would totally disappear. and so i decided to tamper with the locking mechanism. heh heh... got my screw driver and dismantle the door knob, analyzed how the locking mechanism works and decipher how i could jam it. in the end, i decided the easiest way would be to stuff some cardboard paper into the locking mechanism to prevent it from fully locking. but i had to make sure she can still press the button so as to give her the impression that she had indeed lock her door from inside. after making sure it works, i assembled it again.

heh heh... the litmus test was when that night itself when she retired to sleep. as usual, i went into my room first to give her the assurance that i will not be going out. and i heard her go into her room and she  pressed the lock... and it all went quiet. everything worked well...

:-)