My wife requests that I write about some of the “humorous” experiences she has heard me talk about from my college years in the early ‘60s. So … here it goes.

My first year in college there was a tall skinny kid with black hair and a flat top haircut named Wally Smith who lived next door to me in the dormitory. We nicknamed him “spider” because he could spread his legs way out in the dorm hall and shuffle each foot up the wall until he could touch the ceiling with his hands.

One Friday night, he suggested a few of us go downtown to the theatre to see a popular new movie that had just started showing. It was a last minute thing, so, when we arrived there, bought our popcorn and drinks, and entered the theatre, it was obvious from the crowd that all the good seats were already taken. We were going to have to sit down in the front row. But, just as we started down, Wally stopped us and said “Stay here for a moment and I’ll get us some good seats.” We had no idea what he was about to do.

Suddenly, I heard a loud sound coming from the balcony of someone throwing up simultaneous with wet popcorn falling down on the people in the best seats in front of us. Wally had poured some of his coke in the box of popcorn and was shaking it out on the people below simultaneously with his “throw-up” sounds. The people below jumped up to get away from what they thought was nasty stuff coming down on them. At first, we didn’t know what was happening – just that Wally appeared suddenly and pushed all of us forward to take the seats that had just been abandoned. I couldn’t fully enjoy the movie for feeling guilty about the way Wally had gotten us the good seats. But, I have to admit, it makes me smile sometimes when I think about it. Wally eventually flunked out.

David Eller, Publisher