Sometimes There Be Jerks in These Here Hills

When this grown man decided that it would be funny to come up behind me and try to scare me while I was telling a story during the evening's Ghost Tour, I was not amused. There I am, standing on a stone stair, when all of the sudden I hear what sounds like a firecracker behind me. Interestingly enough I wasn't frightened, felt a little startled which is good. Had I been really frightened I might have fallen off the step.

When I turned around to see what had made the sound, there was the guy who previously had been sitting with his date, high up on the pile of schist (Ellicott city granite.) By the feel of things I don't think the group I was leading was amused either. The prank bombed. I had no indication from their expressions that they saw the guy coming as they were listening closely to me. The guy wound up slinking off throwing apologies over his shoulder. I did not respond - looked at my tour group, inhaled and continued telling the story.

Someone asked me later, "does that happen often?"
Something always happens, usually it's to scare the whole group, which I don't mind, we get a laugh, catch our breath, move on. Every once in a while though folks can be jerks and my mettle is tested. I've got about 40 seconds to prevent an internal melt down. No melt down... Fortunately the stick to the script signals reached my brain in ample time tonight, the show went on, the audience was pleased.