Related to the "heumah" post.

Halloween 2000.

At the time, Rice and I rented a duplex just down the hill from the house we live in now. J-Spot lived in a room in the basement.

What Lies Beneath with Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford had been at the local theater since it was released. It was that popular.

So Rice and I went and saw What Lies Beneath. I was driving us home, and as I drove I hatched a plan.

I suggested we get some hot chocolate before going home. Rice said he was tired, wasn't feeling the best, but I could stop somewhere and get some. I pulled into the gas station at the bottom of the hill where we live. I went inside (Rice stayed in the car), got some hot chocolate, and asked the cashier if she would participate in my plan.

She called J-Spot at the house and had him fill the tub in the bathroom with hot, steamy water (like in the movie) and then go downstairs and pretend to have been in bed asleep the whole time we were gone. (I didn't want Rice to see me on the phone.)

I gave Rice his hot chocolate, which he drank, and took him home. He went right to the bathroom. And then he came out, pale. I think we "woke" J-Spot up to see if he'd taken a bath recently. He pretended to still be half asleep (very convincingly) and said he hadn't been in the bathroom all evening.

Rice became pretty nervous. How did the water get in the tub...

Eventually, J-Spot and I came clean and had a nice laugh. Rice did not laugh. Rice still gets annoyed when this story comes up. It was hilarious and perfect.

I took the convenience store cashier a bag of candy later that night as a thank you. She hadn't seen the movie (one must see the movie to get the joke), but still thought it was a pretty good joke and got a laugh out of it.

J-Spot and I still get a laugh out of it. Rice most decidedly does not. Which is odd - usually he has such a good sense of humor...