A crockpot can make some great food, but if you do not act properly around it, it can do some damage and my friend Kyle learned that the hard and hot way Wednesday night and my friends apartment.

Kyle, you may remember, is the one who set off the fire alarm in Stevenson a few months back. This time he cooked up some chicken for me and my friend Dan and the chicken was delicious.

We ate half the chicken made in the crockpot, leaving the other half in the crockpot while we sat there and talked and told some stories. Luckily for Kyle, he turned the crockpot off smartly, and that just lessened the blow.

We had another friend come over and so we retold a story we told between me Dan and Kyle numerous times. But it was Juan’s first time hearing the story and he did not even get to hear the whole story.

So I proceed to tell what we think is a hilarious story still to this day to Juan. Kyle is the reason the story is so funny.

I will not go to into detail about the story, but basically the punch line was Kyle making a sign and it was just absolutely hysterical.

Once that punch line came, it was like Kyle was punched in the face, but it was probably worse than being punched.

Kyle falls forward laughing at the story and remember the crockpot that was just turned off 15 minutes prior that had hot chicken and what at one point was boiling hot water.

Kyle knocks over the crockpot, spilling the rest of the chicken and water on the side of his face and down his body. Kyle had just taken a shower and did not have a shirt on.

I have never been so scared or laughed so hard in my life. Kyle dumped a crockpot filled with chicken and water on his face.

I mean, that could have been anything else. It could have been a cup of water, some juice, maybe even coffee. Even though that would still burn, it is still a little more common.

But no, not with Kyle, and it actually does not surprise me. Of all things, he dumped a crockpot on himself. Think about that. How is that even possible?

So to kind of wrap this up, the carpet was a mess. Greasy chicken, brown water…the carpet was stained and the chicken was getting stuck to the carpet.

Thanks to the guy or woman who invented carpet cleaner: you saved us. After an hour of spraying that down and scrubbing the carpet was finally back to its normal color and chicken-less and stainless.

And we also had to use a bunch of carpet odor remover. That did not work so well because it just absorbed into the carpet because it was still wet.

But the smell finally went away and Kyle was unharmed, thankfully.

So if you are going to have crockpot around, make sure you keep yourself under control so that you do not spill it all over yourself just like Kyle.

Sean Hastings can be reached at 581-2812 or smhastings@eiu.edu.