Don't Drink Out of That!

Last time I visited Mexico to teach at a college owned and operated by my good friends Clau and Oscar, the experience and their hyper-friendly but bizarre Mexican behaviour endowed me with a litany of stories to tell. Some I have already published. Others, alas, will never be told, but here's a brief little gem that tickled Marianne's funny bone to no end and that I just couldn't resist writing.
My farewell party on the last night with all the students lasted fairly well into the night. Once everyone had achieved a pretty solid grin and was entrenched in karaoke, Oscar and I stole into the kitchen to retrieve some more glasses and empty some of a bottle of his special stock of tequila. I opened up the cupboard and grabbed two glasses that looked elegant. They were oval in shape with an interesting opaque bottom. "I've never seen glasses this shape," I said. "They look really neat." Oscar just stared at me expressionless and mumbled, "Yah." I topped off one of the glasses with some tequila and mix. Oscar seemed to be staring at me a little more intensely than usual as I poured the drink, but I figured he was just as hazy as I was. I took a big swig and turned to Oscar with a self-satisfied grin. Again he sort of mumbled, expressionless and brief.
"Dass a candle."
"What?" I said, having not paid attention and I took another swig. Now he began to grin and he spoke again, more clearly.
"Dass a candle!"
I heard him that time and did a spit-take across the kitchen counter. Oscar burst out laughing and I reacted with shock - and laughter too.
"WHAT!? A CANDLE!? WHY DIDN'T YOU FUCKING TELL ME!?"
"Ja-ja-ja! I Wanted to see how far you would go. I mean, there's fucking wax in de bottom man."
What I had deemed opaque glass was actually the remaining wax from a candle that was long since well spent. There was even the metal wick holder still stuck to the bottom.
"Why are they in the glass cupboard?!"
"Dass de candle cupboard. Look. Iss full of candles. De glass cupboard is over here."
I felt like an idiot but we both had a good laugh. We proceeded to finish off the bottle by passing it back and forth and drinking shots straight out of it. Feeling no worse for wear, and enlivened with good tequila, we decided to take the matching pair of candle holders out to the drink glass table and wait for another unsuspecting victim to satisfy our morbid sense of humour. Any good humiliating experience is bettered when it is passed on to another.

See you in hell,
Shakes.