The Prankster aka Prankenstein


My 8 yo daughter loves to watch how-to-prank videos on YouTube. Inevitably, she decided that I should be the victim of her newly acquired, er, skills. But even before she had pulled them off, she announced that she had earned the titles reserved for people who are masters at pranking people: The Prankster. And Prankenstein.

She kept telling me that she’d planned a long sequence of pranks for me, that they would hit me first thing I woke up next morning. Beware the Prankster, she warned. Prankenstein will get you, she cackled all day. I knew she’d do something, but was confident that she’d not have the patience or ability to execute most of the pranks, whatever they were…

She set her alarm for 5 o’clock with the ominous sounding description, “It’s prank time”. And she actually woke up at that unearthly hour. She then woke up her assistant, er, mom. And this is what she setup before going back to sleep.

The Dare: A note was next to my pillow when I woke. It said, “Would you dare to get up?”. On the other side, it asked ominously, “Are you sure?”. Always the drama queen.

Scary Face: Having contemptuously ignored her warning note, when I sat up, I saw a scary floating face. She’d painted a balloon with a scary face the previous day, which was now tied to the foot of my bed.

The Slipper: I got off my bed, put on my slipper and… stumbled. The slipper had been taped to the ground so it wouldn’t move. Later, she was very disappointed that I hadn’t tripped and fallen.

The Door Knob: So I walked bare foot, and reached for the door knob. My hand made contact with something disgustingly slimy. She’d pasted her yuckiest slime to the door knob.

Brush Your Teeth: I went to brush my teeth and… my mouth was green. She’d put food coloring on the toothpaste.

Behind You: Finally, I noticed that she’d stuck a tail onto me when I was asleep.

Even after factoring in for the help from her assistant mom, it was still an impressive array of pranks that she had meticulously planned and executed. So yes, kiddo, you’ve earned the titles of The Prankster. And Prankenstein.

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