This is a story which has everything - tragic loss, drama, a superhero, a happy ending and loving thank-yous.
First, the loss. Ruakaka teacher Jenny Sergeant is passing goods to her daughter Laura's boyfriend, Charlie Konia, in Whangarei's Vine St last Friday when she drops her car keys through the grate of a drain.
Now the drama. Charlie, whom Jenny portrays as a loveable Steptoe-type character, finds a pair of nail scissors in the car and uses them to chip out the tar around the edge of the grate.
Jenny has a couple of dogs in the back of the car and Charlie hooks their leashes through the grate so he can lift it clear of the drain.
By this time the unleashed dogs are running on the road causing traffic ructions and a crowd has gathered to offer advice about the view down the drain, which Jenny described as "like a sewer" with dirty water at the bottom of a one-metre drop.