Joke’s on You
A personal anecdote from living on the farm on the ‘B’ line between Kincardine and Tiverton, Ontario that was published for my parents as a gift in Rooster Showdown and Other Tales for the Farm. Request permission to reprint through the contact page.
Even the sun had a glint of mischieviousness that April First morning. Next to Christmas this was the most exciting holiday of the year at our house! My sister and I relished the moment that we could yell “April Fools” to either our mom or dad. We thought we were so funny. Now I realize that our antics had comic value only to the minds of youngsters.
What we considered to be our best joke, we repeated every year without fail, and we actually believed that our dad fell for it every year! Boy was he gullible.
Every April Fool’s Day we got up early and mixed my dad¹s instant coffee. Now we were not yet connoisseurs of coffee preparation, so the mixture was not all that palatable to begin with! When my dad entered the kitchen in a somewhat drowsy state, we offered him our seemingly generous gift, which of course he accepted. Not only did he accept, but accepted with enthusiasm – what other way can a dad accept such a heartfelt gift? The question…would you like milk and sugar in your coffee? As we already knew he would, he requested milk and sugar. Amidst giggling and whispers we added the milk and salt – yes, salt. We were so smooth, he would never suspect a thing! Deliver the gift and wait. The waiting was torturous! But, finally, after about thirty seconds, he took the first sip.
“Spluuu!”
“April Fools! We tricked you! We got you,” we both yelled uncontrollably.
This time, as other times, my dad playfully said, “You better watch out, because when you least expect it I¹m gonna play a trick on you!
All morning we were on guard, determined that we would outsmart our dad; but as time passed we became occupied with other activities and forgot about his threat to get us back. Since he had voiced the same threat every year we weren’t really that worried.
In the evening, after supper, my sister and I were casually watching television. Our mother was in the kitchen, cleaning up after supper. Dad was in the garage, where he often went in the evenings to work on his various projects.
Now my dad knew of a particular weakness of mine. I loved worms! He came to the living room and asked me to come to the garage. He had something to show me. An invitation to the garage! This had to be really special. I followed him into the garage, over to an old breadbox, out of which was leaking water.
“What’s in the breadbox? I asked with intense curiousity.
“Big, dew worms, that I found on the lawn,” he replied with a convincing tone.
“Can I see them!” I asked with great excitement.
“Go ahead. Just open the breadbox,” he said.
I reached up to open the breadbox that was sitting on a couple of sawhorses, grasped the handle and twisted it to fold down the door of the box. When I folded down the door, I was effectively doused with fast running hose.
“April Fools,” my dad laughed at my expense.
I had to admit that his joke was much better than mine, but, I did have two objections. First, April Fool’s is over at noon; and, second, where are the worms? Telling me you have worms when you don’t is more than a trick, it¹s a cruel joke!!
He got us that time, but we got him every year until we left home. Can you believe that he fell for it every year?!
