I moved into my new house this last Saturday, which was super exciting but exhausting. However, my apartment lease isn't up until the end of March, so I still have a bunch of junk at my apartment that I'm slowly moving.
So come Sunday, I have 2 or 3 boxes of food, etc, that I want to move, but honestly, my arms are really tired and sore and I just don't want to lift them. So I enlist my younger brother Jimmy to help out. After carrying a couple loads down the long, long, really long hallway to the elevator, Jimmy comes back to my apartment and waits for me to finish putting together the box I was working on. So while waiting, he grabs my keys and starts messing around with my keychain flashlight. Only it isn't a flashlight. It's pepper spray. Which he sprays. Luckily not at himself, but we are definitely indoors. However, it's across the room, so I figure it will be ok. I only think that for about 30 seconds, though, before the spray floats over to the kitchen. Suddenly, I can't breathe, so Jimmy and I start coughing and run out of my apartment.
Once we're in the hallway and can breathe again, we decide that maybe we should be done with moving for the day. However, I have left my purse with my car keys, plus a suitcase all ready to go. So Jimmy and I make a plan. We're going to run back in while holding our breath. He's going to grab the suitcase while I get the lights, my purse and my keys. Jimmy holds up his end of the bargain, but I have a little trouble. I'm forced to inhale so I can yell, "Where are my keys!! I can't find my keys!!" Jimmy, luckily has better recall than I do - probably because he was the one messing with the keys in the first place - and tells me that they are on the couch. So I grab them and my purse, get the lights, and we're out of there.
Anyway, moral of the story: Pepper spray is nasty, nasty stuff and quite potent. Jimmy summed it up best by saying, "I'm definitely never going to steal a woman's purse."