Twenty nine years ago, I lived on the third floor of Wilson Hall at OSU, room 303 to be exact.

Across the hall were two guys from South Salem High School, Russ Heuwe (it was spelled something like that) and Bob Briscoe. Also at Wilson Hall, I think on the fourth floor, was one of their schoolmates, Mark Bentson (or maybe Bentsen; again, I really can’t recall for sure).

Russ, Bob and Mark were all good guys, friendly and humorous. They could also drink like there was no tomorrow, and Mark, especially for a blond person, had one of the better mustaches I have ever seen on an 18-year-old.

An aside: During a period of practical joke warfare, Russ left a plastic bag full of human feces (his, I think) hidden in my room. Little did he know I had no sense of smell, thus was I unaware of what he had done until hours later, when my roommate walked in and immediately said, “What stinks?” Quickly his nose led him to, well, what stunk.

In addition to alcohol consumption, facial hair and excrement, they distinguished themselves by introducing me to a cure for hiccups that works, for me and most people I’ve passed it on to, like no other; I can’t remember which of the Saxon triumvirate taught me this trick, so I’m giving credit to all of them, collectively.

Here’s what you do (it’s brutally simple): Get a glass, fill it with water, put a paper towel securely over the opening and drink several swallows of water through the towel. I can’t tell you why it will rid you of hiccups, but it likely will. The Saxon gang mentioned something about the effort required to draw water through the towel, and for all I know that’s at least part of it, but I really don’t care. All I know is, the few times a year I get the hiccups, that’s how I combat them, and the trick always works.