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| My Mom and I back when I was the victim of her many pranks. |
My Mom is passionate about April Fool's Day. I'm not exaggerating when I say I wake up in my own home on April 1st glad that she is no longer the guardian of my fate. She was always good at the quick joke--like waking us up early, but saying we were late for school. But she is the master of the long con.
One of her long cons really stood out from the rest, since she played it on a kid who wasn't me. I like to call it the Cake Joke.
There are several versions of the prank where you frost something other than a cake, but I feel my mom's version was done with a superb subtly that no youtube video of popped water balloons can match.
As a long con, Mom started it by baking a batch of cupcakes so the whole house smelled delicious, and there was evidence of baking having occurred in the kitchen. Then she decorated the cake pans as though they were going to a cake contest. She was into cake decorating before it was a big trend. And she's a great baker so if we were paying attention, we knew we had something really great coming our way.
After an evening out with some friends, she offered the son of the guests (a boy who was beginning to realize he was cooler than we were) a knife and asked him to cut the cake.
He tried, but failed.
She asked him, her voice like honey, but laughing at the same time, what was wrong? Didn't he know how to cut a cake? I believe she even demonstrated the right way to do it.
That moment was priceless.
The rest of it is kind of a blur--mom laughing, me laughing, the boy's parents laughing, him being the butt of the joke instead of me.
She served us the cupcakes and showed us how the trick worked. It was always a relief to know she couldn't get us with the same trick twice--but she hasn't run out of ideas yet, so I don't know why we were relieved!
I don't have the energy for these things like my mom did. Waking the kids up, telling them they are late for school (on the first day of spring break) is about as tricky as I get. I leave the rest of the pranks up to my mom. And I feel a little guilty for not bringing the kids by yesterday.
Speaking of priceless,
Foreclosed is price-less now at Amazon! The pricematching took effect a couple of days ago, so thanks to all of you who wished me success or reported the lower price. Even better, it is now, as I write, #6 on the free best sellers list at Amazon!
And that is no joke! :D
Traci Tyne Hilton is the author of The
Mitzy Neuhaus Mystery Series,
and one of the authors in the The Tangle
Saga series of science fiction novellas. She was the Mystery/Suspense
Category winner for the 2012 Christian Writers of the West Phoenix Rattler
Contest, a finalist for Speculative Fiction in the same contest, and has a
Drammy from the Portland Civic Theatre Guild. Traci serves as the Vice
President of the Portland chapter
of the American Christian Fiction Writers Association.
Traci earned a degree in History from Portland
State University
and still lives in the rainiest part of the Pacific Northwest
with her husband the mandolin playing funeral director, their two daughters,
and their dog, Dr. Watson.
More of Traci's work can be found at http://www.tracihilton.com
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