Nap time

One of the events on the schedule of our recent college reunion was a series of talks run in parallel for interested students. (Get it? "Series", "parallel"? Huh? Get it? It's not for nothing that I boast a degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, OK?) We had what we thought was a fine lineup indeed: various alumni speaking on such esoteric subjects as solid waste technologies, changing career options in computer science, the challenge of the environment. Two were to speak on writing, a thoughtful novelist and yours truly. And we had my good pal KC (known, of course, as "And the Sunshine Band"), arguably the furthest travelled of us all, to show slides about his two research stints in Antarctica.

Yours truly (henceforth YT) arrived at the venue well in time and went in search of Room #5105, where YT was supposed to speak. YT noted that the other rooms -- for example, #5104, where KC was scheduled to speak -- were already filling up with expectant attendees. So YT naturally expected to find Room #5105 filling up similarly -- hey, maybe Room #5105 would even be overflowing with eager students waiting with bad breath to hear what YT had to say. I mean bated breath.

So YT fairly bounded into Room #5105, raised my hands to wave to the no doubt wildly cheering crowd, prepared to make a sweeping bow, wait a few seconds and then ask for silence with a benevolent smile ...

... only to notice that the entire audience in this huge sloping lecture hall filled with banks upon banks of tables and benches, I mean the WHOLE BLEEPING ENTIRE audience, it consisted of one person and that person was one Ms V, wife to YT.

What's more, the said Ms V, wife to YT, appeared to be asleep.

YT swears I am not making this up. YT has two pictures to prove it.

So naturally, YT was extremely eager to agree to an offhand suggestion somebody made, that the writers' and KC's talks be held in series (oh yeah, I did Electrical and Electronics Engineering) in Room #5104. There were already about 40 people there, with more turning up by the minute, all attracted by the promise of Antarctica by KC. Poor guys, they had to first listen to me, then to the novelist and KC whom they had really come to hear.

Oh yes. YT didn't forget. YT did wake the said Ms V and tell her to move to 5104. She was not pleased to have her afternoon nap disturbed. A week later, YT remains in the doghouse.

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(One more vignette from our 25th-year reunion some days ago).