The Door

“Be careful,” she said as I reached for the doorknob.

Confused, I turned to her and asked, “Be careful? I'm only going to start the car so the A/C can cool it down while we get ready to go. Why do I need to be careful?”

“Be careful opening the door. Stay behind the door and slowly sneak around it after you open it so the heat doesn't hit you too hard.” “That's ridiculous,” I replied as I turned back to the door. I pulled the door open and started to step forward, only to be slammed back two or three steps by a 117 degree wall of hot air. As I staggered back I pushed the door closed, or so I thought.

“See I told you,” is what I think she said then. With my vision blurred and my brain barely functioning I turned to her and murmured something like, “You were right, I should have listened.” “Be careful this time,” she said. “I will.”

With good vision and properly functioning brain I again turned to the door and stepped forward. With my right eye leading I slammed into the edge of the door I thought I had shut. Staggering backward, again, everything went black. With the neurons in my brain barely firing, I returned to consciousness. I was still on my feet.

I turned staggering to face her concerned, “Are you alright?” “I'm okay,” I think I mumbled.

That's when her laughter started. I was still so dazed I could hardly stand and she thought it was funny. Later I did, too. Then she said, “You're gonna have a real shiner. It's already turning black and blue.” “Really?” My brain was still trying to catch up.

Then, “Oh no, my parents are going to think I hit you.” “No they won't, I'll tell them what happened.” She laughed again, even with the worried look on her face. “They won't believe you.”

She was right. Not only did her parents think she hit me, my parents thought so, too. In fact, everybody thought she hit me. They all thought it was funny and wanted to know what I did to make her punch me in the eye. Nobody believed either of us when we told the truth.