Going all Tolkein

I don't remember exactly how we decided that Jane came from the Middle Earth. Jane worked at camp a few summers and was quite the character. She had probably the palest complexion you can imagine and very red hair. She was on the short and stout side. In fact, one person nick named her "Tank". Perhaps it was because of the short stature and stout build that we decided that she was similar in appearance to a dwarf. So it began, it started out pretty innocently as these things tend to, with an off-hand remark here and there. It quickly progressed though.

The Weebs and I would have long, inane, but hilarious to us discussions about how she had to have a stout build and small hands to make her way through the various tunnels and lairs in her native land. Jane was incredibly good natured about it, which I think added to the fun. It was just such an absurd thing to say to someone that you really could not get offended by it. Sort of like if you joked around that someone was able to see in infrared! We naturally assumed that Jane had to be very good at fighting because she must certainly come across angry badgers and other burrowing creatures. Similarly, we assumed that she did not need a flashlight at night because she could almost certainly find her way in the dark. Finally, her incredibly pale complexion had to be due to her not spending much time above ground.

The problem was, both Weebs and I were only vaguely familiar with the writings of Tolkein. I mistakenly believed that Middle Earth must be underground. Of course that wasn't true, but nobody ever bothered to correct us, probably because the whole idea was absurd. The highlight came when we decided that we wanted Jane to take us down to Middle Earth. The office area in the camp sort of doubled as a staff lounge and there was a large corner unit couch. Right where the corner met the wall, there was a gap. A gap that was just a little too big for Jane to fit through. Nevertheless, Weebs and I hoisted her up and inserted her head first into the gap demanding that she lead us on a tour underground. She went through about 1/2 way, her waist and legs were visible, albeit upside down. If you were to come across this scene with no context, all you would see is a couple of legs thrashing about in the air with two guys demanding that entry to the underground kingdom. Even with context, it didn't make any more sense. Jane took it all in stride though.