Day Eighteen: What's That? My Name is Written on the Ceiling? I Scoff At You!

I think the time has come to tell a little story about myself, that will potentially put me in serious jeopardy with anyone with a sick sense of humor. Unfortunately, I was born with the almost complete inability to sense when someone is screwing with me. I am, and always have been, extremely, painfully gullible.

The story I always tell to exemplify my extremely gullible nature is a story of my childhood (I was about ten), and one that to this day I still consider with a sense of incredulity that I could actually be as gullible as I was. When I was young, my cousins and I decided to play hide and seek in the dark outside on a warm, dry summer night. My aunt and uncle's property is small, but well-lined with trees, bushes, and old stone fireplace, and a garage in the back corner. So although there weren't many hiding places, the suitable ones were excellent. So as I wandered around looking for my cousins, one older than me by about two years, the other older than me by a week, I heard noises that sounded suspiciously like the cracking of twigs under foot, or the rustle of leaves in the bushes. But no matter where I looked, I couldn't find the source of the noise. A little spooked and confused, I wandered away, to find my other cousin.

Not long later, after the game ended and one cousin was found and her brother gave himself up out of boredom, my uncle entertained us by bringing out a small telescope and pointing it at the moon. "Look!," he suddenly shouted, "there are little green men jumping off the moon! Look look!". So, I looked, but I saw nothing. "I don't see anything," I said. "Look again!". So I looked again. And already still a little spooked from the noises in the bushes, I was already on guard. Then, I heard the noises again, as the leaves on a bush rustled to my left. "They're landing! they're landing over there!", my uncle yelled. So fueled by my gullibility and my unfounded terror regarding all things extra-terrestrial, I ran inside crying. Yup, I believed him. Sure, I was a kid, but I was definitely old enough to know better.

As it turns out, my cousin was throwing M&Ms into the bushes, and it took me about ten minutes to calm me down. Personally, I'm not bitter about it at all, although my mother wasn't (and still isn't) very happy. I think it's a great story. And if anything, it taught me to be a little more cautious when it comes to believing everything someone says. I'm still extremely gullible, but I've trained myself to be ten times better. I only occasionally embarrass myself now, fourteen years later. I'll still momentarily forget and turn around with a swift motion when someone says "Hey, look at that!," and points behind me, only to turn back around and find that my jellybeans are missing, but for the most part I'm not-so-easily fooled.

So, now I realize that I have definitely made myself victim (to at least one person) to being messed with at an increased rate, all because I wanted to do something nice and share a funny story about myself. But guess what? I'm ready for it. I have learned a lot over the years, and I have trained and worked hard to be able to stare at someone dead in the eye with a look of contempt when they tell me my name is written on the ceiling. Sure, I might glance up after they leave, but I like to trust people and give them the benefit of the doubt, too.