“My favorite joke I played was as a flight attendant for Western Airlines. I announced to a planeload of passengers bound for Honolulu that we were very sorry that all our lavatories were inoperable, but that we would make it
“My favorite joke I played was as a flight attendant for Western Airlines. I announced to a planeload of passengers bound for Honolulu that we were very sorry that all our lavatories were inoperable, but that we would make it up to them by offering free drinks for the next five hours.
“There was one very big moment of stunned silence before I added, ‘And we wish you a very happy April Fool’s Day!’ They had a good laugh, and kept teasing that they’d like the free drinks, anyway.”
So wrote one of the merry pranksters who answered a call by The Garden Island and its Web site, KauaiWorld.com, for some April Fool’s Day fun.
On the theory that everyone has pulled or been tricked by an April Fool’s Day joke, readers were asked to share the mirth in an on-line Readers Poll.
Linda Anderson, a grandmother of six in the North Shore area, checked in with a clear case of practical joking.
“One year,” she wrote, “my crew shrink-wrapped my telephone in thick plastic. Then they called me from another room, and when I tried to answer the phone, 40-plus people yelled ‘April fools!’ ‘Very funny,’ I said, as I had ran to get the phone. We all laughed for a long time.”
Another Kauaian found a way to trick her children.
“This one I remember very well, because my kids to this day always remind me of it,” she said. “It was one of those really cold, cold mornings. Kids were in their rooms getting ready for school. All of a sudden I burst into their rooms yelling, ‘You guys are not going to believe this, but it’s snowing.’ All four kids ran to the window, looking very hard outside, being it was still dark. They turned around saying things like, ‘Where?’ ‘I can not see.’
“With that I said what day is today. Kids’ mouths all dropped, saying we are going to get you back. Never happened. I still haven’t come up with anything to outdo that one yet.”
Judy Ruiz Verhoek, who now lives in San Leandro, Calif., but was born in Wilcox Memorial Hospital “many years ago” and has relatives still living on Kaua’i, remembers being on the receiving end of her mom’s April Foolery.
“My mother, Theresa Silva Jerves, was born and raised in Makaweli,” Verhoek related. “Her favorite joke to play on me was to leave a written message to call ‘Carol’ or ‘Linda’ or someone, with a phone number. It was always the local mortuary, who seemed to be used to this particular joke. They, however, did not think it was so funny.”
Editor Pat Jenkins can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 227) and mailto:pjenkins@pulitzer.net
