A practical joke too good to pass up...

During my down time I generally hang out at a friend's shop where we all tinker, drink beer and swap lies. There are always several projects going on at once whether they be lucrative or not.

This guy Jeramy (who shall remain nameless) is a goldsmith and keeps a crock-pot full of wax around he uses to obtain molds of various creatures and objects that he will eventually cast in gold. He decided to melt the wax to mold something and two seconds after he plugged the unit in there were complications. First, a geyser of steam erupted and Jeramy (who shall remain nameless) started yelling "Oh, God! Holy cow!!" Naturally I (being the curious type) ran over to see what was happening. I thought it was some sort of cool chemical reaction. Well, this nameless guy ran the opposite direction to the window that lets a cool breeze blow through the entire length of the warehouse. That was a really bad move, as the problem was a horrible, concentrated rotten fish stench.

Evidently as a rookie shrimper he'd found some cool fish (juvenile sheeps-head) that he wanted to cast and he'd put about 10 of them, the size of a half dollar each, into this wax and in the course of standard debauchery forgot all about them. The crock-pot then got unplugged to seal the fish in wax to rot.

I don't have the words in my vocabulary to explain how vile and foul the atmosphere in the warehouse was for about 30 minutes. We all thanked God for the breeze. I have been working on commercial fishing boats off and on for quite a while, and I have never in my life smelled a more unpleasant, thoroughly invasive stench.

This whole wax-pot thing is a prank waiting to happen. We thought about selling it in a yard sale for a dime or so, but then they'd know where they got it. I thought about taking it down to the thrift store and donating it, but all the ladies there are so nice I couldn't stand the thought of them plugging it in to determine if it works or not in the store. I guess I'm just going to wipe it down with bleach to take the surface stench away and keep it 'till April. This makes Walter Mathau's "dead fish behind the truck seat" gag in 'Grumpy old Men' seem tame.

(insert evil laugh here)