Last night, Katherine asked across the dinner table, “Is it okay, since tomorrow is April Fool’s, if I do some pranks?”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know.”
I pondered a moment. “It’s okay, if …” I started ticking off on my fingers. “… it doesn’t make a mess. And if it doesn’t hurt anyone.” There, I thought. That covers the bases.
Kay pondered some more.
“And,” I suddenly piped up, “only if the person would be likely to laugh about it as soon as they learn the joke.” Yeah, gotta cover the emotionally harmful pranks, too.
She nodded. “What about … something with whipped cream?”
I gave her an eye. “That sounds messy.”
She grinned and laughed. “Yeah …”
Note 1. I confess I did engage in an April Fool prank today, this one, at the office. I have no idea if it caught anyone, or just caused a smile or two. I thought it was pretty funny just to read.
Note 2. To make up for the above, I used April Fool’s Day as a safety topic in two conference calls I was on, suggesting that if a prank had any sort of physical component or might leave any mess, to give it some serious consideration as to whether it was really safe … and, if unsure, figure out something else to do.
Note 3. I would suggest that if we could avoid making unsafe messes, hurting each other, or doing anything to each other that wouldn’t cause a mutual laugh afterward, the world would actually be kind of a cool place.