It was a scam. I was called home during the race because of a problem. When I arrived home I was shocked to find lots of cars parked all around our house. A surprise party. The main gift I received was a rooster from my daughter.
Jack the rooster became part of our family. He and I became great friends. He seemed disappointed when he discovered that some humans were not so friendly. Eventually, a petition was instituted to have him relocated.
A couple of weeks ago I started working on a special Easter/April Fool’s Day plan. I heard Lyn talking to Michelle on the telephone. I asked Lyn to find out the birth date of Michelle’s husband, Ben. We were told it was in September. I didn’t really care what the answer was, I just wanted to get some thoughts going.
I then started putting my plan into motion. After Jack was relocated, I was presented a beautiful stuffed rooster, which I call Jack II.
I drafted my stuffed rooster to assist in this spoof. I recorded some rooster sounds on a cassette, and I found a tall cardboard box and put some wood shaving in the bottom of it. I lifted Jack II into the box and dropped in the cassette player. Then I placed a large towel over the box. After practicing a few times I showed it to Lyn.
We had been invited to an Easter brunch with Michelle and Ben and other family members.
Our waitress approached me with a small coffee cup and informed me that it had been specially ordered for me. I must have been displaying a confused look because she told me that it was coconut milk. It had been ordered by our grandson, Trey, and his girlfriend, Diana. They know that I hate coconut. I will start planning in the near future to get even with them.
There were about 16 of us, and we had a good time. Pansorn, who attends the University of Indianapolis and sings in the church choir with Lyn, accompanied us. They helped me get through all those crazy roundabouts near Noblesville. After brunch we all went to Michelle and Ben’s new home. They just downsized and many of us were seeing their home for the first time.
When we parked on the street we noticed more than half of the folks were still standing in the front yard. This seemed to be a great time to carry in the box with the rooster. We turned on the tape player and everyone could hear the rooster sounds.
I heard responses like, “What is that?” Someone else said, “He didn’t.” We heard, “Oh no!” Once inside we were directed to the kitchen, where family members came in one at a time to examine what was in the box. Some were startled when I pulled back the towel to reveal the rooster.
Later, they were discussing location to place the rooster in their new accommodations. I told them that it was only an April Fool’s prank and Jack the rooster was coming home with us.