I’m sure that in this day and age we’ve all seen, or at least heard about, the prank videos on YouTube. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that Jay decided to prank me, his father and best friend.
Before we get to the pranks though I just want to point out that I haven’t let my son watch the prank videos that you’re probably thinking of. No, the prank videos he’s seen are the ones where the prank occurs in the world of minecraft. On servers where several people play together it’s quite common for the gamers to prank each other, usually in non-violent ways like covering an entire area with slime blocks, or moving their entire house to a different place.
Anyway, back to Jay and his evil side. The first prank happened about a month or so ago, and on this occasion SO (my wife) actually told me before hand what was happening. Normally she wouldn’t tell me but because of what Jay had planned she thought it was best I was prepared.
So, there we were, just before Jay’s bedtime and when he normally brushes his teeth. I used to brush my teeth with him years ago, but for the last couple of years I’ve reverted to doing it just before I go to bed, which is usually a couple of hours after him.
On this night though he insisted, with the help of SO, that I brush my teeth with him. So, playing along I grabbed the toothpaste and toothbrush and prepared to brush my teeth. The first hint that something was wrong is that the toothpaste was cold. On the hot day it was, it was quite obvious that there was something strange going on. So I opened the cap and started to squeeze. Out came a watery cloudy solution that turned out to be soapy water. Jay had somehow managed to fill the tube with the soapy water and put it in the freezer to make it hard.
We all had a good laugh about it and went on with life as usual, with Jay believing he had fooled me. Which, to be fair he probably would’ve if my wife hadn’t tattled on him because of the soap.
And then a few days ago he got me for real…
After our normal family dinner together, Jay said he wanted to have ice cream for dessert. We don’t have ice cream that often, but occasionally we get it, and Jay and I will have a bowl each, usually with banana.
So, he got the ice cream out of the freezer and put it on the table while I got the spoons, bowls and fruit. Jay normally cuts the banana while I dish out the ice cream, and that’s what we did. sort of.
As I opened the top of the ice cream I could see that it had melted and been refrozen, something that does happen here sometimes. They just don’t seem to be able to get the temperature right at the shops to keep ice cream frozen while it’s there, although it was much worse in Indonesia. As such, I didn’t think much about it, although it is something that annoys me because once ice cream has been refrozen it gets extra hard and doesn’t taste as good, you know what I mean.
So then I go to scoop some out, and get a couple of centimetres in when it doesn’t just get hard, it’s like there’s rocks just under the surface. I scraped away some of the ice cream and for a moment wan’t sure what I was looking at. Underneath was ice, nothing more, nothing less. Just a tub full of frozen water. aka ice.
I had no idea what was going on. Had something happened when it was packaged? Did someone at the shop do it? Did a customer scam the shop to get free ice cream?
Then I saw it.
Jay, my son from hell, had the biggest smile on his face I have ever seen. And then came the laughing, from both him and SO.
Like dominoes falling it all came into place.
Jay had pranked me.
He’d taken an empty container, that we keep for leftovers and his art projects. Filled it with water and put it in the freezer. Once it had frozen, he took some ice cream from aother container and put it on top to make it look like a full container. And placed it all back in the freezer to await dessert time.
I’m biding my time now, waiting for the best moment to exact my revenge.
And, to be perfectly honest, trying to think of a way I can prank him.
In the meantime, I sit here waiting, almost terrified, for him to prank me again. But this time I’ll be ready. So it’s almost guaranteed next time he’ll….succeed and completely fool me again. I’ll let you know how it goes, if I’m not too embarrassed.