First Impressions (or My Pet Ferret Rasputin)

Spent the other evening at my work's "holiday" party. A nice event and a bit of low-key fun that might have turned a bit more raucous after I left with the way everyone was pounding margaritas. Teachers! (I refused to have more than one margarita. If they had cider, though, I might have been in some trouble.)

Anyway, the conversation turned to first impressions when the social studies teacher turned to me and asked how my pet ferret was. 

I was a bit confused. The conversation went something like this...

Me: Ferret?

Her: Yes. Rasputin?

Me: Huh?

Her: You said you had a pet ferret named Rasputin. 

Me: Um...when?

Her: On the first day. You told the entire staff. 

The plot thickened. I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. The only Rasputin I knew was the rooster. I teach about Rasputin the rooster, but I hadn't started teaching yet. It was the first day. 

I'm also not one for making up untruths. Usually. Only minor ones of no consequence when I'm feeling spunky. Then, I usually cave in a fit of unbridled honesty. I am not a good liar. 

Puzzled, I turned for confirmation from the others at the table. "Help me out here. Do I have a pet ferret? Named Rasputin?"

"Yes!" They all concurred. 

WTF! Now I was truly perplexed. I mean I can see how one person could think I have a pet ferret named Rasputin (not really), but everyone? Then, it hit me!

Ah-ha! On the first day in our full-staff meeting we played Two Truths and a Lie. Everyone had to write down two truths about themselves and a lie. Then we had to stay up in front of the 100 plus staff members and say them. The object was for the people to pick out the lie. The problem? The acoustics in the room were terrible. You could barely hear anyone. 

My lie was that I had a pet ferret named Rasputin. Those around me correctly learned that this was a lie, but the majority of the room did not and I suddenly became the proud owner of an imaginary pet ferret, Rapsutin. 

Once I realized what had happened, I pondered whether or not to fix the error. Did I say, "oh! How funny! Here's what happened"? Or, did I say, "oh, THAT Rasputin! He's fine. Had a little trouble getting stuck in paper towel roll a few weeks ago, but he seems to have recovered and is back to his old antics"? What a dilemma!