Behind Closed Doors

I spent part of Mollie's birthday party inside. While there in the family room I watched one of the little ones continuously attempting to escape through the back door, obviously thinking there was more fun going on outside than in. Her unyielding persistence reminded me of a little incident that occured when Celeste was two or three years old.
On a spring day, when it was warming up, I had the front door open leaving only the screen in order to get some fresh air in the house. Celeste was not satisfied to stay inside no matter how many times we closed and locked it or tried to block the way, so we had bought a hook-and-eye lock which we installed as high as we could so that she couldn't reach it.
Thinking we had conquered, we had the front door open with the screen door locked. For some reason Celeste was dressed only in a diaper and a smile, when she took the broom and opened the lock by lifting the hook with the handle.
We didn't know she was gone until I saw her out the window running up the hill in the middle of the street, and there was still some snow on the ground! I ran out and brought her home and got her dressed when a few minutes later I had someone from Child Protective Services on the doorstep asking questions, but when we showed them the door and the dressed child they were satisfied with our explanation.