Happy April Fools Day

I have never made much of a big deal out of April Fools Day. My belief is that any day is an occasion for a good practical joke. The recipient of many of the practical jokes I have played was my daughter Allison. During her grade school years, Allison was the picture of gullibility. It was so easy to lure her in and spring the trap.

One occasion that comes to mind was an evening when Lyndy and I told Allison that if we looked into one of her ears, we could see out the other. Gullible or not, Allison did not believe us so we set about proving it to her. I would hold my hand next to her left ear with a number of fingers extended. Allison would place her hand on mine to determine how many fingers were extended.

While we did this, Lyndy would be looking into her right ear. Lyndy would play along by asking me to move my hand a little left so she could see, or telling Allison to sit still so that she could see through. After few moments, Lyndy would call out the number of fingers I had extended. The first time, Allison was surprised but thought it was a lucky guess. But time after time, Lyndy was able to tell how many fingers were extended by just looking into Allison's right ear and apparently seeing my hand next to Allison's left ear.

What Allison never noticed was that however many fingers I was extending on the hand next to her ear, the same number was showing on my other hand in clear view of Lyndy. Time after time, Lyndy correctly guessed the right number. After each correct guess, Allison would become more agitated not knowing how we were doing it. Sometimes the simplest of tricks are the most effective.

I don't remember if we ever revealed to Allison how the trick was done. By reading this, she may just be realizing that we really could not see in one of her ears and out the other.