Before writing a short story about April Fools' Day, I decided to look up some facts and see when it all started and why. You can read about it in the story
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I was just a young kid when one day my older brother told me it looked like I wet my pants. I looked down to see and he yelled April Fools' and started laughing. He explained to me that April 1st was considered April Fools' Day and people pulled pranks on each other that day.
It started us on saying stupid things to each other and to mom all morning. Mom finally had enough and told us to stop it. She didn't look very happy and we knew she meant it. So we kept quiet till we got to school and pulled pranks on most of our friends. Needless to say, it got old after a while.
Every year on April 1st it was always the same way. As the years passed and we got older, we only pulled a couple of jokes to those who didn't realize the date.
One year in high school, our teacher got us good. He told us there wouldn't be a history test that day. Of course, everyone cheered and gave each other a high five. The teacher then turned around and wrote April Fools' on the blackboard. Then he began passing out some blank papers.
"Instead of a test, I want you all to look up April Fools' Day and write about it. We'll read some of your answers later."
We groaned but got on the computers to see what we could find. I typed in The History of April Fools' Day and started to read.
Today, pranking on April Fools' Day has transcended the confinements of the first day of April to become a year-round internet phenomenon. Thousands of videos on the most popular internet sites emerged every day, pushing the limit into dangerous territories. The site said they didn't condone this and went on to illustrate how to allow the holiday to remain true to what it was meant to be—safe, and well, hilarious!
Time passed quickly and our teacher asked for our papers. He shuffled them up and pulled one out.
"OK, class. Here's what another one of you discovered."
There's no consensus on how it all began, but a popular theory is that while nowadays, January 1 is when we start the new year, this wasn't the case before 1592. We used a calendar called the Julian calendar -- created by Julius Caesar in 45 BC -- which saw every new year begin on April 1!
Pope Gregory the 8th created a new method for keeping track of days, which was the start of the calendar we all know and love -- the Gregorian calendar. When he moved the date of New Year's Eve, it obviously took some time for everyone to catch on to it. Those who were a bit behind the times still celebrated on April 1, and were considered fools for doing so.
Then he read what I wrote.
There are variations between countries in the celebration of April Fools' Day, but all have in common an excuse to make someone play the fool. In France, for example, they call the fooled person an April fish, referring to a young fish caught easily. It is common for French children to pin a paper fish to the backs of unsuspecting friends.
Whether we have Gregory the 8th or Geoffrey Chaucer to thank for April Fools' Day, it has existed for centuries and will continue to cause a flurry of creativity and excitement in the first few weeks of spring.
"I'll take one more to read," he said. "Let's see what it says."
In Scotland the day is Gowkie Day, for the gowk, or cuckoo. It is a symbol of the fool and the cuckold, which suggests that it may have been associated at one time with sex somehow. In many countries, newspapers will have false headlines or news stories.
"I was really hoping someone would put what they found into their own words," the teacher said. "Copying what others wrote doesn't show that you really learned anything."
Throughout the years, we kind of forgot about it but every now and then we would pull a prank. It was usually on the girls we knew or the ones we wish we knew. One time my brother handed me a note that said Stacy wanted to see me in the cafeteria. I wasn't thinking about the date and I went to ask her what she wanted. She looked at me dumbfounded while my brother and his buddies stood back and laughed and said April fool's.
I was somewhat of a loner and didn't date much. I lead a rather simple life. I never really got into trouble and wasn't near as outgoing as my older brother was. He was three years older than I was.
After high school, I didn't want to go to college. I just wasn't college material. I got a good job at the auto factory and was happy with my life. I was pulling in a good wage and eventually went out on my own. I had a nice apartment and a late model car. I dated some but there was no one special. I decided to take a massage therapy class just to learn the basics, not to earn my license.
My older brother went to college and always threw it at me about all the dates he had. I have to admit he had a lot and the ones I met were pretty nice looking. After he graduated with a business degree, he got a position in the auto plant where I worked. Of course, he had a salary job but really didn't make much more than I did.
One day he came up to me and said his latest girlfriend was pregnant. He wasn't sure what to do. He came back later that day and said April Fools'. He said his girlfriend pulled the joke on him and then he pulled it on me.
I told him I didn't think it was that funny and asked if he was sure she was joking. He ended up talking to her and she truly was pregnant but because of the way he acted, she decided to tell him it was an April Fools' joke. He told me later that he really cared for Julie but it just caught him by surprise. He did ask her to marry him and they got married a couple of months later.
It made me think so I always wore condoms after that, even if my date told me she took birth control pills. I went to the gym a few times a week to keep in shape. I was never a ladies' man and really didn't flirt with women. I joined a bowling team, and golfed, but never did much else.
Julie, my sister-in-law, introduced me to her younger sister. I went over to their house for the baby's birthday. It was hard to believe that they had been married for almost a year. Well, eight months anyway. They just went to a justice of the peace to get married. They didn't want a lot of fanfare. My brother Bob and Julie really made a nice couple. I believe they made the right decision.
Charlie—that was Julie's sister's name. Her father expected a boy but got Charlie instead. He liked the name and kept it. She said she was somewhat of a tomboy growing up. She knew her father wanted a boy so she did a lot of the things boys did. She played softball, golf, went out for cross-country and even played volleyball. She said she really enjoyed playing sports. When she asked me, I told her I enjoyed some of them.
We became friends and soon I was falling for Charlie. I felt as if she was out of my league. I was twenty-four and she was twenty-three. She had a volleyball scholarship and got a degree in business management. My brother got her an interview at the auto plant in the HR department. She got the job. I wanted to ask her out but was reluctant seeing she worked in the office. The hourly and salary employees usually didn't mix.
A couple of weeks went by and Charlie came out into the plant to see me. All my fellow employees were staring at her. Damn, she looked good.
"Jimmy, why haven't you stopped in to see me since I started here? I thought we were becoming good friends and all of a sudden, you stopped talking to me. Did I do something to upset you? I thought you and I could go out and celebrate my new position."
"Charlie, I care for you, I really do. Look around. You're way out of my league. If it was April first, I'd think it was an April Fools' joke, you coming to see me. I'm sorry but I have to get back to work."
"If you ever stop feeling sorry for yourself, come look me up. I never figured you thought I was that shallow of a girl. Bye Jimmy."
She had tears in her eyes when she walked away. Yet I felt I did the right thing. She deserved so much better than me. I felt like shit the rest of the day. A couple of days later my brother came out to see me.
