Well readers since so many people asked about the infamous April Fool’s joke of yesteryear I decided to divulge it to the entire world. (What’s that?…. No it is not true that no one asked about my story and I’m just writing this cause I think it’s a good yarn. That would be preposterous. And vain. And yes, back in ‘85 I could throw a football over those mountains. But I digress.)

So. When I was a lad the whole April Fool’s thing really didn’t hit me that hard. Oh sure I had my pranks here and there but it was small peanuts really. When Wife and I got married she told me of her childhood and the shinanigans put on by her mother. Well being the chivalrous husband that I am I declared “This must not stand.” So we devised a scheme. A scheme so devious that when we devised it we thought it dubious that anyone could devise something more devious.

 A plan was set in motion. Approximately three weeks before the 1st of April, Elizabeth began dropping hints to her mother. Little nuggets of deviousness. It would be simple things like, “I’m feeling tired today.” or “I crave Jamba Juices” or “I feel that I may be experiencing the first signs of a fertilized zygote.” Just little things like that.

You see readers, the plan was this. Drop this little time bombs before the date and then send her a little card with a sweet surprise for her mom to open unbeknowingly and then POW! April Fools. But we made a critical mistake.

The mistake was, readers, that Wife was too good at her job! The hints that she dropped hit so well and nestled so deep in Laurie’s brain that Laurie was utterly convinced that the her little darling girl was preggers. So the Saturday before (the 31st of March) rolls around. Our special card with the surprise that I designed had been sent two days before and should have arrived. That afternoon Wife asks Mom-in-law innocently, “So did you get a note from me today?” MIL says, “No, why?” Arrrrgh! Curse you USPS! Now we’re up a creek because MIL says in a very serious tone, “Elizabeth, are you pregnant and telling me through a card you are sending in the mail?” Crap. Now we not only up a creek, we’re out the creek trying to get our canoe out of the mud whilst fending off bears. So Wife does the right thing. She squeals.

She said, “Well we did send you a note as an April Fool’s prank but it’s not true.” This is the right thing because the last thing that I would want is my MIL opening an ill-fated AF note and getting an ucler from the grief. But now we’re faced with a dilemma. I spent more hours on this little surprise then need mentioning and I wanted to prank somebody, but who? I had a gem here and someone’s going to get pranked. By hook or by crook.

And someone did. We sent our little time bomb off to her siblings. What resulted was a frantic conference call between all the brothers and their wives discussing our little stinker. Kenter, the oldest, called as spokesperson and got the feel the full force of us shouting APRIL FOOLS! Oh it felt good.

So that’s the story. Probably the only successful April Fools prank that I’ve pulled or will pull. Thanks for asking about it everybody. Oh and just in case you’re curious, here’s the masterpiece that I worked up that started it all. Ain’t I a stinker?