Way Back When Wednesday - Ketchup

I didn't do too many crazy things when I was a kid.  I usually played it safe.  I think it was because I was afraid of getting caught and in trouble. 

But there was this one time that my brother and I were goofing off after dinner.  We were probably supposed to be clearing the table and doing the dishes, but hey, who wants to do dishes?!  So we were chasing each other around the house. The ground floor of our house in NC was set up such that we could run around through the kitchen, dining room, foyer, living room, and then back into the kitchen.

I thought I would be funny by hiding behind the wall separating the kitchen from the living room with an open bottle of ketchup.  My plan was to point the open bottle at his face--but not actually squirt any out--as he came around the corner.  I guess my brother's plan was to hide on the other side of the same wall and jump out and scare me. 

When I thought I heard him coming, I held out the bottle while staying safely behind the wall.  I guess he must have been startled a bit because as he came around the corner, he punched the open ketchup bottle out of my hands (who punches bottles?)!

Since I didn't have the best grip on the bottle it flew out of my hand and landed hard on the floor, thank goodness right side up.  But the force of the bottle hitting the floor caused ketchup to squirt straight up in the air. 

Being a paranoid child, my heart briefly stopped.  How was I supposed to explain to my parents how ketchup got on the ceiling?!  But when my brother and I looked up to assess the damage, we breathed a sigh of relief.  The ketchup did make a mess, but it only got on the trim of the wide doorway between the kitchen and living room.  It was easy to wipe off. 

And my parents never knew.  That is until I told them about this great story for my blog last week...  Oh well, good thing there's a statute of limitations on stupid childhood choices!