I decided to play an April Fools’ Day prank on Mr. P. Not out of meanness, of course, but to honor his cultural heritage. You see, the custom of playing pranks on April 1 is thought to have originated in France in the sixteenth century, when a royal decree moved New Year’s Day from April 1 to January 1, leading to jokes being played on those who did not accept or know about the change. Today the French call April 1 Poisson d’Avril (“April Fish”), which comes from the hilarious medieval hoax of putting dead fish on people’s backs while they slept.
I considered doing what French children do nowadays: Taping a paper fish to Mr. P’s back and yelling “Poisson d’Avril” when he discovers it. But I hankered for a cruel, harmless American prank. I mulled over possibilities: Salt in the morning coffee? Dead bugs in the cream cheese? Perhaps I could hide all of his boxer shorts?
After weighing the difficulty of each option against the potential explosiveness of his reaction, I decided to pull the ole’ switcheroo on his Rusk shampoo, since it’s not like he really needs shampoo anyway. I poured his shampoo into another bottle then scoured the kitchen cabinets for a plausible substitute. Maple syrup matched the orange-pink hue best, but is too precious of a commodity to waste, so I selected olive oil instead.
When Mr. P went into the shower this morning, I waited with bated breath for something unusual to happen, but he emerged after a wholly-typical 20 minutes. I immediately gave myself away by demanding “How was your shower?” with a big grin.
He laughed when I declared him an “April Fool!” Not as long and hard as I laughed, of course, but without any hard feelings. It was a great success, though he did promise payback. I hope that I don’t wake up on April 1st next year with a dead fish on my back.
