Facing danger, head on

When I was still a school secretary, my assistant, also named Betsy, and the athletic director, Tim, had lots of fun together. Perhaps too much fun. One day Tim found a squirt bottle.

Betsy’s preschool age son was also with us on this day. The four of us had fun pretending to squirt each other and various non-waterproof items for a while until Tim squirted Betsy’s son for real then ran into a back room and shut the door. He had dropped the bottle, so the little boy stood with it outside the door, lying in wait while we watched tensely.

After only a minute or two, the door opened and the boy pounced, squirting his hapless victim right in the face, only it wasn’t Tim. It was the older gentlewoman who was co-founder of the school, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, and the CFO.

Everyone froze. Silence reigned. This was not a woman you messed with. Then Tim emerged through the door. Suddenly, quicker than anyone would have expected from a woman her age, she grabbed the water bottle from Betsy’s son and squirted Tim in the face with a hardy, “A-ha! Take that!” Then she left through another door.

We all burst into laughter. It was a moment none of us will ever forget.