laughing at mistakes

Missed takes and Miss Takes and missing things that are taken?

This is a longer read. It’s more from the introduction to The Book of Wrong Answers.

Victor Borge once quipped that laughter is the shortest between two people.

Imagine someone in a restaurant, a waiter for example.

This for me is easy. I spent a lot of time waiting tables.

Imagine this waiter - we’ll call him Jimmie for convenience sake -

Imagine Jimmie at a table.

He’s there, opening a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Champagne.

Professionally charming, Jimmy delivers the goods with style and grace.

Only to turn around to reveal four feet of toilette paper streaming from the back of his pants.

The couple being served?

They first noticed the giggles of the surrounding tables, then the paper, then Jimmy whose actions went thusly:

Freeze. Huge eyes. Observable sinking of the trunk of the body. Confused turning of the head. A furrowed brow. A hand catching and noticing something that doesn’t belong.

Skin becoming increasingly flushed.

And then?

Jimmy pulls the offending tail from his backside and joins in …