Friday, April 3, 2009

The Mother of All Pranks

I brought my lunch to school nearly every day when I was young. Mama Mia taught me and TheDeanInc to pack our own lunch the night before a school day. In the morning, all we had to do was grab our lunch box and head to school. TheDeanInc and I hated making our lunches and would try to negotiate this task back to Mama Mia. She rarely consented.

One night she offered.

TheDeanInc and I were thrilled. Mama Mia was going to make our lunch. Yipee!

As if making my lunch weren't already enough, I opened my bag the next day to find chips, some chocolate, yogurt, and a sandwich. I'd hit the jackpot. Yogurt was only for special occasions. Oh I loved yogurt. And chips? February 29th was more common at my house. We never had chips. Ever. And chocolate? My mom's idea of a treat was an apple slice dipped in peanut butter. Chocolate was more unusual than chips.

I ignored the questions surrounding my mom's sudden mental state and started eating.

The sandwich, probably peanut butter, was fine. I grabbed my bag of Cheetoh chips. I couldn't wait to lick the orange powder off each finger. I opened the bag.

Doritos? That was odd.

Doritos would be fine, I guess. I couldn't believe the chip company had mixed the bag.

Next was the yogurt. My flavor was bubble gum - yes, bubble gum. I opened the container. The plastic seal was missing but I was more concerned with gobbling yummy yogurt than worrying about a silly seal. The flavor was a bit off, though. It tasted more like strawberry than bubble gum.

Finally, the chocolate! This was the best lunch ever! I opened my box of Raisinets. They looked different than I remembered but, it'd been awhile. I popped one in my mouth and

Milkduds?

What was this lunch?

After school I discussed some things with TheDeanInc. He'd had a weird lunch as well. In fact, he had Cheetos in his Doritos bag, bubble gum flavored yogurt in his strawberry container, and Raisinets in his MilkDud box.

Was he thinking what I was thinking...?

We grabbed some paper. We brainstormed our letter to Frito Lay and Nestle. They needed to know they'd made a mistake. Who knew how many bags and boxes were affected. Due to our kindness in alerting them to this mistake, would they consider offering us a year supply of chips and chocolate. Sincerely, us.

We proudly showed our work to Mama Mia. She'd be so happy that we worked a solution on our own. And maybe, just maybe, we'd share a bag or two with her.

"Guys, do you know what the date is today?"
"...no..."
"It's the 1st of April. In other words, April Fools!"

She'd taken the time to carefully open the chip bags, swap them, and glue the bag shut again. Mama Mia had taken a spatula, completely scrapped each yogurt container into a small cup, and switched the flavors. She'd also opened the chocolate boxes, replaced them with the wrong chocolate, and glued the ends together.

She got us. She got us good.

9 comments:

Shankar said...

Aw, and you didn't even get your year's supply of free junk food. You and Dean must have looked like Ralphie writing his essay about the Red Ryder BB gun.

And why am I not surprised that there was no venom in your mom's prank? Must have been a much more innocent time.

Coordination Queen said...

I wouldn't mind pranks like that. I'd prefer milk duds over raisnettes any day. :)

Jared and Katy said...

That is such a good prank...I will have to pull that on my kids one day!

Charis said...

That is a great prank and your mom is seriously AWESOME ;-)

Beth said...

Yeah, she "got you" good - and you "got" a great Mama!

bethanyr32 said...

Bubble gum flavored yogurt? I think that would be prank enough...

I remember the time my mom sent me to school with green chocolate milk for St. Patricks day, without telling me. I was scared of it and threw it out - milk shouldn't EVER be green!

Unknown said...

What an awesome prank. Your mom totally rocks.

dean said...

I don't remember writing a letter. I think you just made that up for a better story.

Lisa Johnson said...

Girl, NOTHING will ever beat the prank we pulled on your parents when we started that April Fool's joke back in January when we made up that guy and told your parents you were dating seriously over the insuing months and then told them you were engaged! That was THE BEST April Fool's joke EVERY! I have to admit that I am kind of proud of us, b/c they actually believed us. That was SO FUN!