BEDTIME STORY

Taupo Times, Volume II, Issue 90, 9 October 1953, Page 8

BEDTIME STORY

DISORDER OF THE BATH I don't know whether I'm safe in saying that men as a rule have more presence of mind in moments of embarrasment than women. By way of iliustration there is the story of the young man who, opening the unlocked door of a bathroom and beholding the spectacle of a lady in the bath, hastily withdrew with an apologetic "Sorry, sir." Not long ago I was involved in a similar contretemps which demonstrated that women do the most extraordinary things when panic stricken. My wife and I were spending a few days as the guests of a very old friend. During our stay I spent one evening at the Club, returning very late after the entire household had gone to bed. I was therefore unaware of the fact that during my absence a lady had arrived to stay overnight en route to Picton by the Tamahine, sailing the following afternoon. Next morning, I went to the bath room as usual. There were two bathrooms. One, upstairs, was reserved for ladies. The other was in the annexe on the ground floor level, and in accordance with the prescribed rule of the house it was there I went. Opening the door I beheld the head and shoulders of a lady in the bath. All that the circumstances of the case required was that the lady should stay put and that I should retire apologetically and precipitately. But she didn't stay put. With a frantic yelp she leaped out of the bath and slammed the door in my face before I had a chance to step back and flee. In short, a minor incident had suddenly assumed the proportions of a major catastrophe. I went to my hostess and told her what had happened. She went into shrieks of laughter. "Poor Tina!" she gasped, wiping the tears from her eyes, "Just the sort of idiotic thing she'd do!" "That's all very well," I said, "but I can't possibly face that woman at breakfast." "Don't be silly," she said. "Did' she really jump right out of the bath onto the floor?" "Yes," I said. "Then you " she stopped. "Precisely," I said. "Anyway," I added, "there is no need to broadcast it." She giggled. "Oh my!" she exclaimed. "It's too good to keep!" I sighed. "Tell a woman, and she'll tell the world," I said. "Pig!" she said. I breakfasted in solitary state, left the house immediately afterward, and didn't return till the Tamahine had sailed. — D.