Friday nights are absolute blank slates on our campus. For the unimaginative, unenthusiastic, and lackluster among us, they are horrendously boring. For the individuals over twenty-one who have access to a car, they usually involve somewhat unideal behavior. For the rest of the student body, who possess creativity, enthusiasm, and youthful impetuosity, the blank slate presented is ripe with opportunity for fun.
But for this little missy, fun somehow translates into horrendous injury. Let me explain by way of an example...
Sean needed to be shoved into the ponds. He was being an incorrigible imp and he deserved punishment. Our deal to even the score? I would get to shove him into the ponds not one, but three times. (As a side note, I don't "punish" people when they really deserve it. I only take this tack when it was harmless fun and I'm pretending to be highly incensed. If the action was really offensive, I just let the individual know and walk away. This tactic is especially affective with this particular young man because it makes him think about it for himself) Friday night was the date and time settled on to carry out this punishment. I met him with a couple of other girls on upper campus and traipsed down to the first pond.
We chose the first pond for two reasons: one, it is the shortest walk and two, it is generally the warmest. However, this was March, early March at that. Standing behind Sean, I almost backed out. After all, he didn't really do anything wrong and that water was freezing! He wouldn't have any of that, though. He stood there, quite staunchly, waiting for me to give him a shove. Michelle and Kim did not share my scruples and were encouraging me to push him without hesitation. A couple of minutes later, I screwed my eyes shut and shoved. I didn't open my eyes until I heard the splash of the tumbling Sean. The expression on his face when he came up was one of extreme shock and mild pain. "it's c-c-c-c-cold!!!"
He climbed out and stood to be shoved in again. Now that he was shivering and wet, I had fewer qualms about shoving him into the water. In fact, the faster I did it, the less time he would spend wet and shivering. So, in he went again. But watching him clamber out a second time, I couldn't see myself doing it again to him. I began pleading with him to go change and get warm. Two times was more than sufficient and he would catch a cold if he stayed out any longer. But he's more stubborn than I am. I gave him a very lackluster shove, but this time, my feet didn't stay on the ground. I tripped backwards, fell off the sidewalk, and tumbled into the bushes behind me, giving myself a horrendously sprained ankle in the process. Sean was pretty confused when he emerged from the water. Kim and Michelle were off in the bushes and I was nowhere in sight. He pulled himself out and scrambled over to see what was going on. I didn't tell him because I knew the massive panic that it would produce in him.
I was helped up by the girls and tried to minimize the limp as we walked back up the path. It very soon became apparent that the walk up the hill behind the chapel was a no-go. Sean's solution? Find a wheelbarrow to put me in. :)
After a highly undignified ride, part 2 of the catastrophe happened. I was being helped across the field by the girls and I fell into a gopher hole with the other foot. Two sprained ankles in the space of 15 minutes. Oh, the indignity of it. Walking was now out of the question, so Sean's carrying solution was to pick me up and set me sorta sideways on his hip. It was uncomfortable to say the least. After a few protestations on my part, he finally relented and gave me a normal piggy back ride.
But that was my Friday night. It started out with a bit of harmless fun and ended with me being paraded around in a wheelchair. I should just stop trying to have fun :P
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