He Kept Calling at the Wrong Time

by Jim Gannon

In English 201, we had to give class presentations. I wanted to make a cool presentation, because I wanted to do a good job. I did my paper on the Book of Revelation and how it tied into society.

It was the day of the presentation and I wanted to come in and do something that I could surprise everybody with. I had it all thought out: I would get to class a half hour early, sneak in, and do what I needed to do.

The room had a pull down projector screen. I had cut a picture of David Koresh and a picture of the Heaven's Gate leader and taped it to the screen and then rolled the screen back up.

During my presentation, I made some tie to what society produces when it takes the book of Revelation too literally. Then I pulled down the screen, but people just stared at me. It didn't have the effect that I wanted.

When Mary, my girlfriend now, did her presentation, she had a pager on, and she kept getting paged. It turned out it was her boyfriend at that time. She had told him she was all worried about making the presentation. And he said, "Oh! Well, I'll call and see how it went." But he kept calling at the wrong time.