Once upon a time when my brother and I were little, we grew bored while shopping with our parents. We wandered off to search for amusement in the aisles of Sears. As we passed an escalator carrying shoppers down from the floor above, one of us may or may not have pressed the emergency stop button. The escalator shuddered to a halt. "Great," one of the passengers muttered. "Now we'll be stuck here 'til Tuesday."
I certainly don't remember pressing that button, and I'm sure that my brother doesn't, either, but I know there's one child out there who will never be allowed to forget the time he or she pushed a forbidden button.
I certainly don't remember pressing that button, and I'm sure that my brother doesn't, either, but I know there's one child out there who will never be allowed to forget the time he or she pushed a forbidden button.
Ed. Note: Damn, that story was a lot funnier before they corrected it.
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7 comments:
Sheesh! Where's the Cat in the Hat when we need him?
Jenni, when I was a kid, our local mall had posted a heinously mangled little kid's sneaker behind glass next to the escalator with a warning to keep fingers and toes away from the edges.
It served mostly to scare the crap out of all us kids so we rarely asked to go to the stores on the upper level. Except the Sears was up there, so when it was back-to-school time we were dragged kicking and screaming up the horrible child-eating moving staircase.
I think this might be the reason why I still hate shopping malls.
Happy Christmas shopping!
Sometimes the ideas that get us in the most trouble are things we'd have never thought of on our own, but are planted there by someone who thinks they are looking out for us.
When I was 8 or 9, Mom had a wringer washing machine. Everytime I went to the basement for something, even if I was going no where near it I got told "don't walk your fingers on the wringers". I'd have never dreamt that one up on my own, yet after several years of hearing it multiple times a day, every day, I finally did...
and promptly got sucked into it, up to my elbow, which it couldn't pull through, so it sat there turning and eating the hide off my arm!
I couldn't hit the safety bar hard enough to release it, wasn't smart enough to pull the plug out of the wall, so at 10 years old just stood there screaming. Mom came downstairs (didn't pull the plug either) and got a hammer to smack the release with, then took me to the doctor's.
Telling me all the way, of course...
"I told you not to ever do that!"
Thank you for your visit; it's nice to meet you!
I never had a class in jazz history, but used to play trumpet and I've read a lot of liner notes over the years, and a few books here and there. While other kids were rock and rolling, I was wearing out Armstrong albums along with lots of others while I practiced.
alan
Alan,
Wearing out Armstrong albums IS a class in jazz history.
Ralph
I got in countless trouble on the escalator in my day.My mother was completely irrational when we went on that thing.
Excellent post as always. (she continues wiping up tea which was spit out in laughter.)
Oh man! Does that bring back old shopping memories! And I can also only imagine what people were thinking when that foam was released! Sheesh! :-)
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