I think humour is very important in stories, at least they are in mine, because life is full of humour. We, as humans can find humour in all sorts of things, even the macbre. I recall the days before Social Media when something bad happened, you suddenly found bad jokes being sent to your mobile phone.
It was an underworld of communication, and you always knew something would do the rounds when something bad happened. The jokes would be in poor taste and forwarded many times. If you didn’t like it, you deleted it and said nothing. Not like today, when we have to be careful what we put on Social Media or else people would come down on you like a ton of bricks, rightly so, in many cases. You couldn’t get away with anything now, where as in a text message it was just for you regardless of where it originated from and easily deleted.
Life is humerous, and I was unfortunate enough to come from a family that had clumsy in it’s genes. Because we were all that way inclinded, you needed a good sense of humour to survive it. Being a writer, I collected many of these instances as they happened and they still make me chuckle as I add them to my stories.
I wrote a story with the long weird title of Walking in the Moonlight with Brad Pitt. It was the story of Amy who goes to a party and sees the handsome Liam. She remembers him from a disasterous date she had several years earlier.
I had a friend who dated a girl who was taller than he was. He told me how on dates, he would get her to walk in the gutter so they could be at least on the same level. That really amused me, so I used it for Liam and Amy’s date. Then there was my sister who once worked in an office that had a spiral stair case leading down to the reception. She was on her way to meet a client wanting to make a good impression. As she got midway, she slipped and fell on her bum hitting every step and landing at the clients feet. Her skirt was above her suspenders exposing her thighs, it was the eighties, I might add! So I wrote it into the story as well. It’s how Amy makes an impression on Liam – minus the suspenders!
‘Amy groaned and left the bathroom. The date had ended because she choked on a nut and couldn’t stop coughing.
As she tried to come down the stairs elegantly, she saw Liam watching her and knew he had finally placed her. Her eyes caught the blond head of Jack, who was now giving the kiss of life to the party prostitute.
Turning back, Liam’s eyes were still on her as she missed her footing and squealed like a cat with its tail stuck in a door. Her slippery hand grabbed the handrail as her bottom hit each step in turn. Liam was there in an instant as she rose to her feet looking as red as the wine.
“Are you all right?” he asked with concern.
Standing, she gave him a dazzling smile through clenched teeth, “Is that my drink, lovely!”’
Please share with me your embarrassing moments, because we have all had them!
Karen J. Mossman 
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