Inattention

Sometimes you're listening to a person and your mind wanders off because they're blah blah blah and your mind has traveled to 23rd century Mars or maybe to an alternative 18th century England where they have armored blimps...AND THEN you realize they're expecting a response from you and you have NO idea what they were saying and maybe they asked you to do something you absolutely DO NOT want to do, but you don't want to reveal you weren't listening so you yell, "Fire! FIRE!" and run away! 

And when  I say "you," I mean "me."