My friends took me to this ancient castle. It was wonderfully constructed, and I was amazed by the beautiful antique furniture. The tables, chairs, desks and cabinets were all exquisitely designed, fully functional, and artfully decorated.
Then these same friends took me down a dark passageway that led to a tunnel underground. As they sprinted off ahead of me, I was suddenly trapped by iron bars, blocking my way. I turned to run, and found the retreat path blocked the same. As I marvelled at how I fell into this predicament, I wondered how it was that my friends managed to escape, yet I was captured. I concluded it was the timing of the thing, and that I was snared as maybe whatever mechanism that they must have triggered had been delayed by age, rust, or lag.
Moments later, I contemplated what would happen next. Would the doors open, allowing my escape? Would the dungeon guards come to whisk me away? Should I arm myself? Were Darth Vader and his imperial troopers coming to arrest me?
Before I could decide what my next move was, the bars retracted and I was released. As I gratefully sprang from my brief sentence, I relaxed as I caught up with my friends.
Then, I saw the levers on the wall. What do they do? Oh, of course! They released me by pulling the levers! How joyous to know that my friends came to my rescue!
Then I realized that it was the same lever that sprang the trap.
Well. It could have been worse. Look what lever #2 revealed:
And then, I woke up. It was all a dream. I was safe and sound in bed.
Wait a minute. Where am I? Why is everyone looking at me like that? What were you plotting while I was asleep?