Four years ago, I came across a lovely idea in a children's magazine: on April
first, switch out breakfast cereal bags so that when someone picks up
their usual box, something entirely different pours out into their bowl.
When
the day came, I had no motivation to get out of bed, but once I
remembered what day it was, I rushed downstairs. I got my mom's permission to
switch out the cereal, since she agreed that it was a harmless prank, and I did
the deed while my siblings were watching "Mary Poppins" in the living
room. My brother was the first to come to the kitchen, where he asked for peanut butter Puffins, one of our various health-food cereals. Mom said that he could have them, but after she got out the box, she hesitated and said, "Today, you may have honey rice
Puffins!" This was his favorite cereal, but because of its
higher sugar content, he only got it as an occasional treat.
"Yeah!"
he cheered, and then he asked to have the two cereals mixed.
Usually,
Mom would have corrected him for not saying please, but on this occasion, she
just said yes, opening the honey rice box and dumping our Cheerio substitute
into his bowl. One piece bounced out, and he was about to eat it when he
realized what it was. He looked at the bowl, then at the box, and finally up at
Mom, beginning to glower.
She asked him if he did indeed want peanut butter puffins added to the bowl, and he responded that no, it was all a trick. Unheeding,
she poured out cinnamon Puffins, his least favorite, and that was the last straw. Absolutely furious, my brother
had a complete meltdown, and I looked on in astonishment as he lost
self-control.
"Stop!
Stop!" Mom cried. "What day do you think this is?"
"April
Fools," he said through gritted teeth.
For
the next few minutes, Mom talked to him about the appropriate way to respond to
innocent practical jokes, and tried to get him out of his outrageously livid
mindset. In the end, she told him that he could have the cereal he wanted, and that since none of it was wasted, it was really all okay. Unfortunately, he was so angry about getting pranked that he was unable to recognize this.
Right
around this time, my little sister showed up at the table, and since she had no
idea what was going on, she just sat at the table patiently and waited to be served.
My
brother petulantly whined in my direction, "It would have been better if you'd said, 'we're going to
the state fair tomorrow.'"
"But
that isn't funny," I objected. "It would be a lie, and
besides, the state fair is in October."
Mom
added, "And telling an untruth like that could get someone really
disappointed, even more disappointed than they would be if you poured them the
wrong cereal."
While
my brother was still pridefully seething and my mom was talking to him, I
approached my sister and asked what she usually had for breakfast. Upon
confirming that she ate the Cheerio-like cereal, I got out the box and dumped
honey rice Puffins into her bowl. She looked down at the bowl and then up at the box, her expression of
surprise turning into sheer alarm. Her eyes filled with tears, and Mom had to
talk to her and assure her that she would get the right cereal in the end.
Once
that whole ordeal was over, I had long since finished my own breakfast, and
went upstairs. As I departed, my brother was trying to come up with a trick to
play on me. "All I can think to do is put a mousetrap in her shoe, but
that won't work," he complained.
The
End
(Since
this post has been quite long enough already, I shall follow up tomorrow with
the other one and a half pranks.)
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