My older sister was always playing practical jokes on me when we were growing up.
One April Fools Day, she played a particularly mean joke on me. My pony was pregnant and due any day. I had been running down to the barn in the middle of the night to check on her for a week. It was a beautiful sunny morning and I had very untypically slept in. It was almost 8am and everyone else was already up.
My sister came flying into my room, “Belle had her baby!”
I flew down the stairs and out to the barn cursing myself for sleeping in.
In the barn, Belle blinked her big soft brown eyes at me. Her belly was still massively swollen, and I knew I’d been had. I muttered a few choice words under my breath and climbed into Belle’s stall. I brushed, fed and watered Belle. When I could no longer delay the inevitable, I trudged slowly back to the house.
My sister was laughing hysterically, as she gloated her joke over her “stupid sister” for two more days. Then the foal was born and I found it easy to ignore her after that.
Ignored, but not forgotten… I was careful not to fall for any of her pranks after that.
Patience really does pay off sometimes. Several years later I got my chance at revenge.
My sister had purchased a house with about 4 acres and it was busting at the seams with her horses; she really needed more acreage.
At my work a joke dressed up as an official document perchanced across my desk. It was the perfect weapon for my revenge, and lucky me it was nearly April. I edited the document slightly to make it more believable and shipped it off to my sister.
I wish I had a copy of it, as I can’t remember it in detail. In essence, the letter (in very convincing legalize) stated that:
there was an environmental crisis in which the buffalo were being protected from extinction. Per U.S. Congress Legislation ruling XIXXX (bunch of numbers)… the buffalo were being distributed to farms across the United States. She would be receiving 1000 buffalo on April 24th … and would be required to feed and care for them….until further notice.
In addition, (and this is where I doctored it up a bit) if she had any questions or concerns she could call 1(800)BUF-FALO.
For weeks I heard nothing and I assumed that my joke had fallen flat, then I caught wind of the truth.
My sister had received the letter and was instantly infuriated. She immediately called the 800 number, which was much to my surprise a real number, apparently for the city of Buffalo or it’s football team or something like that…
When the lady answered the phone, my sister went off on her, “One thousand buffalo!?! I’ve only got four acres!?! I can’t feed that many! You can’t send me any buffalo! I don’t have room for the animals I have!”
Bewildered, the lady on the other end of the call replied, “Buffalo? As in cows?!?”
That was when my sister realized that she’d been had, and she knew exactly who had pranked her as I was called a few choice names.
To this day, I occasionally bring up the buffalo incident. I always get glared at and if I do it right I get called names. It never fails to make me chuckle when I think of her phone call… sometimes revenge is very sweet.
