The Dungeon

I go to the basement, or "the dungeon" as everyone else at work refers to it, on a weekly basis. It isn't a basement that you would find in your home. It is just like the rest of the building with regard to the layout, but it also happens to be below ground level.

It actually reminds me of walking through the hallways of grade school.
Anyways...there are three rooms where we have files stored. One room is actually where the files from the Traffic department are kept, but we use two of their shelves due to lack of space. There is "the big room," which I personally prefer because there are file cabinets rather than bankers boxes in this room. It is easy to get the files you need and to put them away when you are finished with them. And generally speaking, the basement is a fun place for me to go to because no one is with me to tell me if I do something differently than how she would do it (her way equals the correct way...and the ONLY way) - there are good acoustics for singing, and the temperature of the basement is quite a bit cooler than the stuffy, hot office.

I typically go to the basement for no more than one hour. Friday was an unusual day because I over-estimated the amount of files I have brought down with me to be put away. I ended up spending two hours in the basement.
Everything was going well until I decided I didn't need to use the ladder. I thought..."Hmmm, that box is slightly higher than my head, but I think I can reach it." And rather than go across the room, pull the ladder over, climb the ladder, bring the box down, and then shove the file in, only to repeat the process all over to put the box away...I decided I would skip some steps and just pull the box out, set it on top of my cart, slide the file in, then shove the box back onto the shelf. It was good in theory, but something went awry during the execution of this plan.
I pulled the box down with no trouble. However, I forgot to take into account the weight of a full box of files. It sort of "fell" right down onto the cart. I am relieved it landed on the cart. But oops, this cart has wheels on it! I am now holding onto the heavy box that is full of files, but I cannot let go of the box to stop the cart from rolling. So I begin to walk along with the cart. As the cart moves faster, I begin to jog...and before you know it, the cart and I are running while I am holding onto this box...that is full of files...which will spill everywhere if I drop it.
Now the problem becomes the wall straight ahead of us with even more boxes of files on it. What will happen if we crash? Will I be covered with forty boxes of scattered files? And who will find me....and how long will it take before they come looking for me...the office does not close for another three hours!
Somehow, I managed to balance the box of files in my arms on the runaway cart. With my right arm, I was able to reach out, grab onto the cart and stop it. Whew! Just in the nick of time, too. We (the cart and I) were less than three feet from the wall.
I had to go find a water fountain after that ordeal. I was hot, my mouth was dry and even my eyes were dry (probably because they were WIDE open while I was dealing with the cart)!