If it walks like a duck...
One evening my sophomore year in college, I met my friend Jon in the basement of the cafeteria. He worked maintenance and this evening was particularly dirty. He was washing up in the bathroom and putting on fresh clothes before we went to supper. Since I worked in the accounting department I didn’t have to deal with the same problem.
As I stood there waiting for him to finish cleaning up, we were talking about the days events and whatever else came up. While we were talking, another student entered the bathroom and went to the urinal. I recognized him as Jon’s classmate, Tyler. I just happened to have the water bottle (which attached to my bike frame) in my hand. I had just filled it in the sink. The water bottle had a pull-up spout.
As soon as
A couple months later, I was heading out for a bike ride after supper. I went to the second story balcony where my bike was locked up. When I walked onto the balcony, I saw Chuck, who roomed down the hall from me, standing at the railing looking down. I just stood there behind him for a moment. I heard feminine voices below on the ground. Chuck, unaware of my presence, continued to flirt with the girls below.
Then I got that same whacky urge again. I reached back and pulled my water bottle from it’s holder on the bike. I took two silent steps up behind Chuck, crouching low to avoid being seen by the objects of his wooing on the ground below. I carefully placed the water bottle under his crotch and began the steady squeeze. After about one second, I heard screams from below. Chuck looked down at his pants, his hands still on the railing, and his whole body stiffened. The perfectly sized stream of water was shooting out from his crotch, through the railing, and raining on the poor girls below. They were screaming “Oh! That’s nasty!” “GROSS!!!!” and running away.
Chuck recovered from his initial shock of the stream emanating from himself and the reaction of the girls, and spun around to see me. He looked down at my water bottle and I saw 2+2 = 4 flash across his eyes. Now it was Chuck screaming when he realized what I had done. He lunged at me but I had already started to turn, running down the hall of the dorm. He chased me all the way through the dorm and out to balcony on the other side. When I cleared all the steps to the ground in one jump, he gave up and went back inside.
So I guess if it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck, it might not necessarily be a duck! Initial perceptions sure are fun to create though!
About a week later, I guess Chuck had not forgotten, because he came to dump a large pitcher of cold water on me while I was in the shower. Fortunately I noticed the pitcher coming over the door above me and flattened myself to one side of the shower as the water cascaded into the drain. During the second and a half Chuck was busy pouring the cold water I quickly pumped a palm full of shampoo and smeared it up his forearm. He yelped and dropped the pitcher in the shower (fortunately plastic) and ran off yelling “Gross! What is that???”
Two days later I noticed Chuck going into the shower. I also noticed he had not brought any clothes to the bathroom, only his towel. So when I finished my business, I picked up the towel and walked out of the bathroom. In the hall I hesitated, not sure what to do with the towel. Then I walked down the hall and found his room unlocked. I hung the towel on the inside door knob and went back to the lobby.
As it happened the lobby with its open double doors was between the bathroom and Chuck’s room. As it also happened, there were a couple of visiting girls carrying on a conversation in the lobby. In a minute I heard faint, echoing yelling “Hey! Who took my towel?!?” When there was no answer, he continued “C’mon guys! Bring my towel back!!!” The girls and the other guy in the lobby with me exchanged amused and puzzled looks. I was doing my best to look just as puzzled.
Then the unexpected happened. Chuck decided to take matters in his own hands. The next thing we knew, he ran completely naked (and still yelling so that everyone turned to turned to look at him) across the opening of the lobby and down the hall to his room! The girls screamed and hid their faces with their hands! I couldn’t help it any longer and burst out laughing! Everyone else followed.
I don’t know if Chuck ever discovered that I was the one who removed his only covering from the bathroom that day, but he continued to take revenge, maybe for the water bottle incident. My desk faced the wall away from the door in my room. He found it amusing to sneak in while I was studying and listening to music and grab me from behind and yell in my ear. The first couple times it was funny. I was surprised, I jumped, and then chased him out of the room. The third and fourth times it started to get old.
So I placed a picture frame so that the glass reflected the door and most of the room behind me. It wasn’t as good as a mirror, but it wasn’t as obvious either. Sure enough, as I studied that night, my eye caught movement in the glass. It was Chuck again, sneaking up behind me in a crouch. I waited until he was just about to pounce, then I jumped up, spun around, threw my arms out and yelled at the top of my lungs! The poor guy stumbled back against the door, struggling to keep his balance! Then he sank to the floor and we both broke out laughing. He gave up trying to scare me after that.
The most interesting thing in these little experiments and experiences for me was observing how people respond when something unexpected or strange happens, or how their perceptions can play tricks on them.
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