My first reaction was confusion. I check the tires on the curb side of the car, because the only way I can think that I may have gotten a flat on a car that is only two months old is that I hit the curb when parking and damaged one that way, though I am pretty sure I didn't do that. The tires next to the curb are fine. Then we check the other side and see it... the front drivers side tire is completely flat.
?????!!!
So we examine the tire, confused as to how this may have happened. We discover a clean sidewall cut in the exact center of the sidewall, at exactly the twelve o'clock position on the tire. We both come to what I think is the obvious conclusion pretty rapidly. Hey, it's not like it was the first time I've had a car vandalized while is was peacefully parked in front of my house.
Obviously I trip to the mall never happened. I am angry. We get to spend today, and probably tomorrow dealing with replacing a tire on a vehicle that is only two months old. I'm pretty sure that it will be expensive, though probably less than $300, so no point in calling the insurance company and offering yet more proof the a car of mine is clearly in more danger when it is parked than when I am driving it. I am also pissed because here I am six months pregnant with a toddler; I might need my minivan on short notice. Of course the sort of person who thinks sticking a knife in someone's tire is some sort of cool Halloween prank is not the sort of person who thinks about the fact that they are disabling the only vehicle a family has that is capable of transporting a sick youngster in. Luckily for us everyone's favorite pink antibiotic seems to have worked wonders for Margaret.