Jesse Takes Down the Queen!

This morning we joined some friends for a nice stroll through campus.  We let the kids get out and stretch their legs a little bit in a nice courtyard area, and of course Jesse had to go check out the huge chess set.  I assumed it was set up for the public to enjoy, and since no one was using it at the time, I didn't think twice about letting Jesse play a little game of chess.  Jesse went right up to it with no inhibitions and immediately started knocking pieces down. This created a domino effect, and soon all the pieces were on the ground.  As Jesse is wreaking havoc on the chess board (knocking pieces down faster than I can pick them up and having the time of his life), he had a small audience of students cheering him on whenever another piece fell down.

About this time I notice a lady with her laptop seated not too far away and she is taking pictures of Jesse.  She tells me not to worry about the pieces and that she will pick them all up.  I am kind of feeling embarrassed at this point because I realized that the pieces were hers and maybe not for public use.  Anyway, I apologized and took her at her word and let Jesse knock a few more pieces down before taking him over to the fountain in hopes of keeping him away from the chess board.  Just as Jesse is about to climb into the fountain, the lady yells at me from across the courtyard and tells me that I need to come over and pick up all the pieces.  (I'm 99.9% sure that she had just told me not to worry about it.)  Let me tell you that this was a nearly impossible task, because Jesse would be doing one of two things: if he were with me, he would be knocking all the pieces down once again, and if I left him to go pick them up, he would fall into the fountain and drown.  Lucky for me we weren't on our own and one of my friends could keep an eye on him while two of us put the pieces back in their spots (although this wasn't that simple either because she had her own toddler to keep tabs on).  I found it very humorous that we put two of the pieces in the wrong spot, and only then did this lady get up and help.

Here is a picture of the event, and proof that this lady stood by taking pictures and then proceeded to practically scold me.  We decided that maybe she was doing sociological or psychological research on how people respond to rudeness.