Ghosties and Spooks! And Pain!

There's nothing quite like a good pratfall...especially when it's not witnessed at your own expense. I have a very fond childhood memory of being at school during a Halloween costume contest and seeing a classmate who was dressed rather unimaginatively in a sheet with eye holes cut out, walk off the edge of the cafeteria stage while howling "WOOOOOO...WOOOOOO" in a sinister voice, his arms out-stretched and waving about. Apparently he should have invested a little more effort in cutting out the eye holes of his makeshift and incredibly lame ghost ensemble, as they didn't permit him to see where the stage ended and the drop to the floor below began. I have a vague memory of a flag pole being involved in the fall which added even funnier sound effects than just the kid hitting the floor..I remember him darting across the stage, woooooing, and then stepping off into thin air, landing on a piano at the side of the stage, rolling forward and subsequently knocking over the flagpole..then quickly being surrounded by frantic nuns rushing to his aid. The funniest element of course being his stupid costume and added voice effects, which suddenly turned to a shriek of terror and pain as the floor beneath him disappeared. God that sounds sadistic, but it was laugh-out-loud funny at the time...he wasn't terribly hurt...the biggest bruise he received was to his ego.

One of my own worst pratfalls involved a rainy day, old thrift store shoes with no traction, a trash can, a coffee shop audience and two fresh cups of steaming hot coffee. That one came fast and furious, as pratfalls tend to do. I was exiting the coffee shop, which had a very slight, and very smooth incline/step at the entrance, a full cup of coffee in each hand, when suddenly my feet flew out from underneath me and I landed flat on my back, knocking over a trash can and dumping two hot cups of coffee into my face. I heard several people gasp and ask if I was okay as I attempted to again place myself in my previous upright position. I was so mortified I simply rushed away in embarrassment, dripping hot coffee and charging blindly forward and cursing under my breath. From a viewer's perspective it must have been pretty spectacular..seeing as it had all the right props for its disastrous conclusion.