If we had to create a cloud of the most used words now, it would probably look like a dark-greyish or greenish swamp filled with "pandemic,” “closed,” “COVID-19,” “uncertainty,” “uneasy,” “worried,” “cancelled,” “hygiene,” “virus,” “global economy,” “crisis” and so on and so forth. There probably would be a few bright yellow flowers of “stay healthy,” “stay positive,” “connected” and some more, but the general mood definitely would not be at the brighter and warm end of the colour palette.
But while pretty much all possible organized entertainments were “postponed” (another word for that cloud), thanks universe, nobody can cancel April Fools Day. And while I can’t reveal this year’s joke yet, I decided to share one of the best pranks I played before.
I probably was 14 years old then and had a young revolutionary growing inside me. I wanted to have a tattoo, get piercing all over my face, my pants were hanging quite low and each of my pant legs was wider than my skirts nowadays, and whenever I could, I tried to put quite bright makeup on. My mom, who is definitely not a real conservative, nevertheless, was taking a more conservative approach on this part of my generally liberal education. No tattoos, no piercing, no makeup or wide pants at school (the last ones were often out of her control though).
Like all teenagers, I was constantly trying to push the borders and was playing on my parents’ nerves, but in reality, that revolutionary has never really established in me, and while I actually proceeded with parachuting, rope jumping and other exciting activities, up to this day I don’t have any tattoos or piercings (ears don't count). So my drive to change the way I looked was more of a test for my parents, rather than my actual need.
That year on April 1, I came home before my parents and started looking for a prank idea. By the time mom rang the bell, I was all set. I opened the door and just as if nothing has happened I greeted her. And while nothing indeed has happened, my nose was decorated with an impressive-looking round clip. And it looked very realistic.
She said hi and slowly started turning white. We stood there for a minute in silence looking at each other (you can imagine how much muscle tension it took me to keep my face plain). She asked where I got the money for it. I said I saved up some pocket cash they gave me. Another minute passed by. She went to the kitchen without even taking her shoes off. I went to my room, finally releasing my frozen poker face. I could hear her moving stuff around there, then it went quiet again and in a second she blew into my room.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard her yelling so loud before. I think she was upset, mad, terrified, disappointed and to a point disgusted all at once (the clip did actually look ugly). She was screaming something about pedigree bulls and ancient tribes, but through all the emotions it was really hard to follow her thought flow. I let her go for a few minutes and then quietly said, “It’s fake.” She stumbled over and went quiet. I started smiling, but she didn’t. “It’s April Fools, mom,” I said. She still was wordless.
“Never do this to me again,” she said in a moment and left the room.
Since then for a few years she’d been circling April 1 on the calendar well in advance to make sure that even if my brother and I try to shake her up again, she would be ready.
