It all started on the drive up to Washington, DC from Raleigh, NC.
I was allowed to bring two friends with me, and my mom pulled over at a gas station for snacks. My friends and I wanted to share a Ben and Jerry’s pint of ice cream but we didn’t have any spoons to eat it with. So we bought buy an entire box of spoons at a nearby drugstore. It was a long drive so when there was a lull in conversation, my friends Arrie and Lori started cracking jokes about spoons. Little did I know, the spoons would be the highlight of my trip.
Since we had copious amount of spoons, someone suggested we make a horror movie called, Attack of the Spoons! Once one joke got rolling, there was no going back. Arrie poorly attempted to frighten me with a spoon and kept whispering, “Watch out for the spoons, Hannah. They’re coming for youuu.” As she said this, she held a spoon up close to my face as if it were menacing monster instead of an inanimate object.
We were staying with my mother’s friend that lives in the D.C. area. When we arrived at her house, Arrie took the box of spoons inside because she was having fun taunting Lori and I. But I wanted to put a stop to Arrie’s charades so I snatched her purse and grabbed the box of spoons. Then Lori called from the living room, “Watcha doin’ in the room with the spoons, Hannah?”
“Oh nothing…” I replied.
I quickly locked myself in the guest bedroom and tried to hide the spoons. I had just hid them in the closet underneath a large blanket resting on the top shelf when I heard Lori and Arrie trying to get in.
“She locked it!” Lori giggled. It was so crazy! I locked a door because I was hiding plastic spoons. I’ve never stooped so low. Once I unlocked the door I pretended nothing had happened and soon the spoons were forgotten. Unfortunately, later that night Kathleen (our hostess) was helping us get settled in and she went to grab the blanket in closet.
“Kathleen! Noooo!” I shouted.
But it was too late. Kathleen had already pulled on the blanket and spoons rained down in slow motion and clattered noisily onto the floor. Lori and Arrie burst into laughter while Kathleen asked me politely, “Why are there spoons in the closet?” I tried to explain but the look on her face revealed she thought we were a silly bunch of teenage girls.
When we left the next day, I saw Lori out of the corner of my eye packing a hand full of spoons into her purse. She gave me a look not to blow her cover because Arrie hadn’t noticed. I suppressed a laugh and the spoons were again forgotten until later that night.
We stopped at Chick-Fil-A for a bite to eat and Lori ordered an ice cream. Unfortunately, she tragically was having complications opening the spoon that the counter girl supplied her with. She grabbed hold of the wrapper and wailed helplessly as the trapped spoon bent at impossible angles. Losing her patience, she feverishly yelled, “I can’t open it!” Then my mom shouted jokingly, “Lori! Lori! Calm down!” But I’ve rarely seen any situation resolved when the person saying “calm down” is also shouting.
My mom took the spoon calmly from Lori and opened it with ease, looking very defiant. Lori meanwhile shouts, “It’s OKAY! I’ve got it under control,” and stuck her hand in her purse to reveal one of the plastic spoons she had saved. It was quite ridiculous and everyone, Mom included, erupted into tearful laughter. I couldn’t help but say, “I don’t know what’s funnier. The fact that my mom looked as if she might pull out some pills for Lori and say, ‘Don’t worry! Your mom gave me these in case you break down!’ or the fact that Lori was prepared with an extra spoon.”
We continued laughing until our faces turned red and people were staring. It was such a silly moment but I don’t think I’ll ever look at a plastic spoon the same way again.
