Episode 82 - April Fools

"It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time." The famous American President, Abraham Lincoln, said that and I think it is a wise observation. Mr. Lincoln was certainly no fool. But on April the first, better known as April Fool's Day, many people try to fool the people around them. If you fool someone, you trick them into believing something that isn't true. Or you can make someone look like a fool by making them look a little silly or foolish. Usually the jokes that people play are harmless. That means that no one should be hurt by an April Fool's joke. It should simply make someone smile or laugh or feel a little embarrassed. Last year, I read about some employees who played a joke on their boss. They went to wok very early in the morning and covered everything in his office with foil. They wrapped up his desk, his chair, his stapler, his computer, his telephone, his pens, his pencil sharpener; well, they covered everything. It really made him laugh when he walked into his office. I also know a young man who played a good gag on his sister. Mark used some Oreo cookies for his joke. Oreo cookies are two chocolate biscuits with vanilla cream sandwiched between them. He knew that his sister would put some of the cookies in her lunch. So he took some of the cookies apart, scraped off the vanilla cream and replaced it with toothpaste. Then he put them back into the package so she would take some for her lunch. They tasted awful, but at least her teeth were clean. Another man said that his boss told him that the tires on his car were flat. He told him that he could go out to the parking lot and fix them. Ben was very upset. He had new tires on his car. He couldn't understand how it could have happened. But he was even more confused when he found his car and saw that the tires were fine. None of the tires were flat. He thought that maybe he was looking at the wrong car. But then he remembered that it was April Fool's Day. He felt pretty gullible because he had really believed his boss and everyone was watching and laughing as he walked around his car scratching his head. My neighbour Claire told me that her best friend called her to say that she and her family were coming to visit from Toronto. So the woman made sure that her house was spotless and she got busy preparing a huge lunch for them all. She waited and waited but nobody came. Finally she called her friend in Toronto. Her friend laughed and said, 'I was just kidding. April Fools!'