Back in my college years, my crazy friend John and I went to a local college one night to see a showing of an old Buster Keaton film. When we got there, we found the screening was canceled, since the college was closed for Easter break.
So John and I are walking back to the parking lot, and we find this entry hatch unlocked. John said excitedly “Cool! We found an entry to the secret tunnel system that runs under the entire college!” We opened the hatch, and climbed down a ladder, and I was careful to close, but not fully close, the hatch behind us.
When we got to the bottom, we just found a small vault, with rows of dials on the wall. I took a quick look at the labels on the dials, and recognized it to be the controls for the sprinklers on the college grounds. No big deal.
Okay, so this is boring. I climb up the ladder to leave, and John says “peek out before opening the hatch all the way!”, so i slightly open the hatch, and lift up to look out, but my hat blocks my view (I was wearing a cowboy hat….ya, I was in college, okay?). I hold the hatch door with one hand, and take off my hat with the other, then lean down to hand John my hat, and I hear a loud “Click!” from the hatch door.
I held my breath for a moment. “Shit!” I thought, “I just locked the hatch!”
I pushed on the hatch, and it was, indeed, locked.
I told John what happened, and he climbed down the ladder, and said “I am gonna sit in the corner and conserve Oxygen.” Oh, shit… it’s holiday week. No one will be on campus till a week from Monday! I won’t be missed at work for 3 days, and John won’t be missed for 2 weeks! Plus, John can really get on your nerves when you are with him more than 8 hours.
John now begins fiddling with the dials, hoping the irregular watering of a lawn on campus will somehow signal someone that we are locked in the water control vault. I see what he is doing, and begin having visions of John unscrewing the wrong dial, and the vault filling with water.
At the top of the ladder, I am trying to figure out how to unlock the mechinism, but it is pitch black, and I have to feel the hatch lock to feel how it works, and how to open it.
I finally find the switch, and unlock the hatch. I jump out of the vault, and damn near lock it behind me, but decided not to. John climbed out, and we were on our way.