Hot Tub Anyone?

My friend Jenny asked for a good memory I have with her, so I am complying with her request by telling one of my favorite hot tub stories here. Here goes . . . (Disclaimer: I am not changing the names of the parties involved to protect their innocence, or lack thereof? You decide-- )

A few weeks after I moved to Fort Worth (almost 2 years ago) I had gotten together with some new friends at church and we'd gone downtown for the night. We'd met at Russell's house. Russell is a single, late-20s guy who's got a house that has a hot tub. Apparently, 2 of my new friends, Jenny and Tracy, had been giving him a hard time for weeks about him never using his hot tub. They had joked that one day he was going to come home to find them sitting in it, and from my understanding he had encouraged that.

So, Tracy and Jenny get me in on their scheme. We left Russell's house after the get-together only to return shortly with cleaning supplies and our swimsuits. We waited until we thought he was in bed and then went through the gate to his backyard and proceeded to clean out the dirty, unused hot tub. Then we began to fill it. We were a little nervous because his bedroom had an outside wall right where the hose hooked up, and we were sure he'd hear it. Apparently he didn't, so we gained confidence. After a while the hot tub had a decent amount of water in it (though we couldn't figure out how to actually heat it, and it was a little cold, but we were determined! Ha!)

The 3 of us are sitting in the hot tub--that's not so hot, in fact it was pretty cold--in our swimsuits, having a great time. The time comes for us to finalize the scheme and see Russell's response. (Remember, I hardly knew the guy and was convinced from my new friends he would think this was funny). After throwing some caramels at his window we determined we'd have to wake him up with a phone call. One of the girls called him and asked him to check out what was going on out back.

At this point we're thinking we're just the most hilarious people around and that Russell will get a huge kick out of this.

We were wrong . . .

Keep in mind as you read this, we are not malicious people! We had no intentions to upset anyone. This was intended as a good-natured prank that would make a good story!

He came out to his deck and it was obvious that he did not appreciate the prank. In fact, he was pretty irate. He told us he wanted us to empty the hot tub and leave his property immediately, and that he'd called the police. None of us knew what to say. Jenny and Tracy wouldn't speak up so finally I told Russell I was sorry, that I'd misunderstood and thought he would think this was funny (remember I don't even really know him, though he was the elder's quorum president at the time!). He told us he didn't appreciate being woken up in the middle of the night and stood there watching us while we, in uncertain, quiet shock, emptied his hot tub.

So we get back to the car and explode with laughter. We were just a little surprised at his response. After all, as someone later pointed out, what red-blooded American boy wouldn't jump at the chance to join 3 cute single girls in his own hot tub! Ha!

We really were in shock, and were even scared to go to church and see him on Sunday!

Word got out quickly about what had happened and everyone (including our bioshopric and stake president) gave Russell a hard time about it. He later apologized for his response (and we apoligized for technically trespassing!), and we realized he's just not the kind of person you want to wake up in the middle of the night! Russell is a great guy, the rock of our ward, and if you know him you know he will not take offense at this story being posted!

We were all friends again within days, but this story definitely goes down as one of my all-time favorites with Jenny! I feel like I can post it because it has become a well-known story around here, and Russell doesn't deny any of it! We love you Russell!