I popped down the hall to fill some water bottles. Easy peasy, right? A simple errand, five minutes tops and everyone’s hydrated for the night.

At least that was the plan.

Except the water station is in the same room as the ice maker, and the ice maker was making an ungodly noise akin to hail on a tin roof amplified through a loudspeaker in an echo chamber. Seriously, that thing was LOUD.

But water was the goal so I started filling up my first bottle. Finished it off, capped the top, then turned slightly as I opened the next reusable bottle for filling just in time to spot two people materializing behind me. You know that cartoon where a cat explodes outward in a hiss and ends up on the ceiling? Yeah, I probably looked kinda like that.

So much so that the woman grabbed her husband’s arm and said sorry! sorry! as they took half a step back. I just smiled a little and filled that second water bottle as quick as I could. I moved aside so they could use the water station and smiled wryly as I said, “Serves me right for watching Law and Order.”

Olivia Benson for the win, am I right?