Story #9 - April Fool's!

I know it's not April Fool's Day today, but it's still the first week of April, so I figured this would count. I wanted to try out the diary format, so... this is written like a diary. Oh, and fun side note - one of the pranks featured in this story (the one with the cereal box cake) my family actually did, twice, with great success. You should try it next year if you're fond of April Fool's.

The misspellings and bad grammar in these entries are intentional. (The story starts when the girl is six!) However, if you see something that looks like a typo, let me know. As always, a huge thanks to anyone who read my previous story, and double thanks to those who commented! I hope you enjoy this one. It's pretty lighthearted. Here's the info:

Title: April Fool's!
Warnings: mischievousness?
Summary: Ten years of April Fool's jokes.
Length: ~ 2,300 words
Notes: First point of view, sort of a mix between past and present. Written in diary format. I have no idea what the genre is, so I'm going with drama.



April Fool's!

April 1 2000 in my room

            Dear diary, I played my first April Fools joke today. I been working up to it all year. First I found the salt and then I got the suger and then I saw when Mommy got up and when Daddy gets up and I made a list of when they get up. Then today I went to the citchen and I took out the salt. Then I put in the salt in where the suger is. When Daddy and Mommy put suger in their cofees they spitted it all out cuz it was really salt! Then I said APRIL FOOLS real loud and they laffed.

            I love April Fools!

April 1 2001 on my bed

            Dear Diary, Last night I went to the kitchen and I switched the suger with salt like I did last year. You should of seen thier faces when they dranked their coffee, Diary! And Mommy put “suger” (it was really salt)! on her strawberrys! She said they tasted really wierd. Daddy said I was very clever and Mommy said she was stupid for forgeting it was April Fools day.

April 1, 2002 – in my room

            Dear Diary, I switched the salt and sugar like I do every April Fools day since I was 6, but it didn’t work as good this time. Mommy and Daddy must of remembered today is April Fools Day. Cuz this morning, they took 1 look at the sugar and then they took stuff out of the salt contaner! So they ended up putting sugar in thier coffees like they wanted. I didn’t trick them at all! Daddy even said “you can’t trick us!

            I’ll have to think more hard next year. My parents got to used to my salt and sugar trick and I need a new idea.

April 1^st, 2003 – at the table

            Dear Diary, I smarted up this year and I did a new prank. I asked people for ideas and they told me a good but kinda gross one – put Saran rap on the toilet! This one was more hard than the salt/sugar one. I didn’t wanna put it on the toilet downstairs cuz what if I forgot and peed on it? Yuck! So I desided to do it to the toilet in my parents room but they were sleeping. So id had to be very very very quiet. I creeped thru their room where they were asleep on the bed and I got to the bathroom. Then I got out the Saran wrap and with a flash light I put it in the toilet under the toilet seat.

            I was real lucky that they didn’t wake up cuz I dunno what I would of done if they caught me! But I got out safe. Later, when they woke up I heard someone yell, “Sara”! and I smiled cuz I new it had worked.

            The bestest thing about April Fools Day is that my parents can’t get me in trouble when I pull a prank on them even if they don’t like it!

April 1^st, 2004 – my bed

            Dear Diary, I pulled a double trick today cuz I have double didgets and I didn’t want what happened when I was 8 to happen again. What happened when I was 8 was that Mom and Dad wisened up and weren’t fooled by my sugar trick.

            So what I did this year was, I snuck down in the morning and witched the sugar and salt. But then I also put Saran wrap on the toilet! Their used to me only doing one trick a year. So even if they wake up this morning and remember it’s April Fool’s and catch the Saran-wrapped toilet, they won’t catch the salt and sugar switch!

12:22 PM – kitchen table

            it worked! Dad laughed and patted me on the head and called me “his smart little girl.” I told him I wasn’t listen any more and smiled and then he meazured me again. I grew a inch!

April 1^st, 2005 – downstairs

            Dear Diary, I thought today I’d pull a triple trick. Mom and Dad have been fighting alot and I want to do something to take their minds and my minds away from it all. I did my usual ones just in case they forget and I fool them with it. Then I also put a bunch of fake cockroaches in all these places. That was my 3^rd part of the trick. I put them in the food, in their bed, in the bathroom, everywhere! This morning I listened to the music of my parents screaming when they saw a “cockroach” in their food or had a nasty surprise when they went to the bathroom. I also heard and saw them spitting out stuff cuz they forgot about the salt. It worked – they were so distracted tiptoeing around the house making sure I hadn’t hid anything else that they forgot to fight!

April 1^st, 2006 – at my desk

            Dear Diary, I don’t think anyone expected me to do an April Fool’s joke this year because I’ve been so down with the divorce and all. But they don’t get it. I need this more then ever because of the divorce. With a April Fool’s joke I can pretend that everything’s normal again. I know that’s stupid, but it’s how I feel. Anyways, sorry Diary, you want to know how my prank went, not about my problems, don’t you?

            It was easy to fool them cuz like I said they weren’t expecting me to do anything. First I put a cup of water on Dad’s door. When he opened it up he got splashed by all the water! I also put salt on his toothbrush. I only did 2 on him cuz by 2 he knew I was still going strong with my jokes! At school I told all my friends I was failing history. I even made a fake note saying I was. I called Mom and told her. She was all “oh hony we can do something about this” but then I said, “April Fool’s!” She was mad. But then again, I’m mad at her for the divorce so I guess that makes us even.

April 1^st, 2007 – in my room

            Dear Diary,

            I almost didn’t do an April Fool’s trick this year. I’m 13, a teenager, and that seems a little old for April Fool’s jokes. But I had such a good idea that I couldn’t possibly not do it! So here’s what happened.

            Some of my friends were having a party and I said I’d bake the cake. I had Dad help me and I think he was very excited to be on the other side of my pranks – the pranker, not the prankee like he usually is.

            So we baked two cakes. One was a real cake, with Funfetti cake mix and vanilla frosting, and it said Happy Birthday Sallie! on the top. The other one looked the same, but it was really an empty cereal box completely covered in frosting to make it look like a cake!

            At the party, we gave them the fake cake. It was so, so, so funny to watch the people try to cut the cake. You should’ve seen their faces, Diary! They were frowning but trying not to because they were trying to be polite. They were so relieved when we brought out the real cake! They thought they’d have to eat a really dry, hard-as-a-cereal-box cake.

            I’m glad I decided to go with my prank this year. It was really good, and Dad and I had alot of fun making the cakes. I love April Fool’s so much.

April 1^st, 2008 – downstairs

            Dear Diary,    

           

            High school is so much bigger than elementary school, but that’s a really good thing when it comes to April Fool’s Day pranks (even though almost no one in high school does April Fool’s Day pranks cuz they’re too old for them). Of course I pulled a few on my friends – switching their locks, for example. That was great. But someone gave me an even better idea to do on Dad and, well, the WORLD. They said that one time they drove off with coffee still on their car and all these people tried to stop them. That gave me a great idea!

            So what I did was, when Dda drove me to school, I had one of his coffee containers (empty) taped on top of the car. Dad was so confused because all of these people were desparately trying to tell him something and he didn’t know what it was. Eventually, someone told him that he left his coffee cup on top of the car. He was still confused, cuz he had his coffee right there with him in the car. So then I had to tell him what I did.

He said, “Aw, Sara. I thought I was on the ‘inside group’ now and you’d tell me all about your pranks and we’d prank your friends, not me! I was so confused that we could’ve gotten into a car accident!”

            Hmm. That gives me an idea…

April 1^st, 2009 – Denny’s, 4:03 AM (ugh)

            Dear Diary,

            This is it, Diary. My one last hurrah. Next year, I’m going to be sixteen, and that’s way too old for April Fool’s jokes. But man, have I got the best prank up my sleeve for today. The trick to this is waking everyone up before they even think about April Fool’s. That’s why I’m up at 4 AM. Soon, I’ll call Dad, and that’ll start the ball rolling.

4:47 – still at Denny’s

            The phone conversation went really well. I’ve got Dad fooled! It went like this:

            “Don’t freak out,” I said to Dad, “But I’m in the hospital.”

            He freaked out, of course, like I knew he would and like I was counting on. I told him that at like 3 or so I couldn’t sleep so I took a stroll around the block and when I was crossing the street a car hit me. But I said I was okay, mostly, they were just keeping me overnight and checking me for concussions and stuff. I told him he couldn’t visit me yet because it wasn’t visiting hours, but could he please call my friends and Mom?

            This is going great. I’m eating a very early breakfast at Denny’s cuz it’s open 24 hours and no one I know will be here and give away the whole thing. Now I just have to wait till 6, when I said visiting hours are.

8:05 AM – STILL at Denny’s

            Diary, you won’t believe this! Dad called me a while ago and said he and Mom were skipping work to see me, citing a family emergency but their boss didn’t understand or didn’t care and fired both of them! Dad was all, “Don’t worry, you’re more important than money, we can find another job,” but I feel awful. I almost broke down and told him then that it was all fake and I wasn’t really hurt but, well… it’s my last trick and I want it to be great. I feel really really horrible about Dad and Mom getting fired from nursing, don’t get me wrong, but they’ve already lost their jobs. I might as well go through with the trick.

            Dad said they’re all headed to the hospital right now. Diary, can you imagine their faces when they realize it was all a joke?

            I know. It’s not so funny anymore, now that they’ve lost their jobs.

            Maybe I went to far on my last big hurrah.

1:36 AM – home

            I feel so stupid. I went back home because I had been lurking at Denny’s for a long time and I knew (thought) no one would be at home. I was waiting for all my friends and family who knew about my “accident” to find out I was actually okay. But when I got home, Dad, Mom, and all my friends were there! I was like, oh man, blew my cover, but they were all like, “April Fool’s!”

            Talk about the player being played. Apparantly Dad knew I wasn’t at the hospital because he was at the hospital when I called. I’m so stupid! I should’ve made a schedule like I did when I was 6, so I’d know when he works late. Also I got the visiting hours wrong – stupid, stupid!

            But anyway, he freaked a little when I first called him and called Mom, waking her up and freaking out with her. But when he looked around and realized it was all a prank he called her again to reassure her. And guess what? Mom decided to prank me! They weren’t fooled very long, but they sure fooled me. Turns out they didn’t get fired at all. They made that up! Dad said it was all Mom’s idea.

            “It was?” I said, looking up into her familiar face. I see her every month and on weekends sometimes.

            Mom gave me a shy smile. “I’ve done April Fool’s Day pranks every year since your dad and I split up,” she said.

            I couldn’t believe it. Mom had never seemed to into my pranks when I did them. But all this time she’s been doing some of her own!

            But then I asked, “Aren’t you a little bit old to be doing April Fool’s pranks?”

            Mom just laughed. “No, honey,” she replied. “No one’s ever too old to have fun.”

            I’ve been thinking about that, and the rest of the day, and I’ve come to a conclusion. Okay, so maybe this big hurrah prank didn’t work. But it doesn’t matter. It was probably too extreme anyway. Dad said he was so scared when he thought it was true. But I did learn a few valuable lessons from today.

            1) You’re never too old for April Fool’s

            2) I can forgive my mom

You should’ve seen my face, Diary. I bet it was really something.

THE END J