an alarming morning

I won't attempt to explain why Rasmus was giving me a random piggyback ride on a Sunday morning, as I'm sure any explanation I could afford would not really be an explanation at all. All I can really say is I ended up standing on a chair - which happens on occasion, when the chair is available and I feel inclined to gain the higher ground - and this somehow resulted in the offer of a piggyback ride. And since such opportunities don't simply present themselves every day*, I swiftly accepted the offer by 'hopping on'.

So, there we were; bumbling around our tiny dorm room when all of a sudden, emanating from the ceiling came a migraine-inducing BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP.

I think now would be a good time to put forth my hypothesis that shock appears to instantaneously reduce my deductive reasoning skills to little more than post hoc ergo propter hoc illogic.**
All I could think was, oh my gods! I was getting a piggyback ride and then the alarm went off. It must have started beeping because I was getting a piggyback ride....because I got too close and to warn me to back off! oh no, oh no, oh no! For a full several seconds I was absolutely certain the alarm started because I had been receiving a piggyback ride moments before.

Now, you must be wondering what this  'moments before' nonsense is all about -- as surely, I was still receiving an enjoyable - albeit uncomfortably loud - piggyback ride, was I not? Unfortunately, the answer to this is a definite 'no' - a rather painful 'no' in fact. You see, I was not the only one shocked and stunned by the alarm. Rasmus, too, found such proximate and deafening bleering to be quite a jolt to the senses and momentarily forgot to hold on to the girlfriend who was forgetting to hold on to his back. And so, the fall....

Yes, I ended up with a slightly bruised behind, but I slowly came to the realization that we were not responsible for setting off the alarm and while the incessant beeping forced us to trudge outside until the fire department arrived to shut the thing up, at least the fire itself was a false alarm....and it wasn't caused by my piggyback ride.

* I am certain that I could ask for a ride whenever I wish and would be indulged, but there is something special about the offer

** Given that this is the only instance I can think of that I have been led to such illogical conclusions following a significant shock, one might suggest that I am committing another logical fallacy - cherry picking. But really, what's life without a little illogic?