My youngest son wins. At not quite five, he pulled off the most successful trick in our family to date.
The evening of March 31st, my husband made the mistake of leaving his keys on the counter, exposed and ripe for a prank. The next morning, said keys were nowhere to be found. We searched briefly, couldn’t find them, and he needed to be at work early. Grabbing the extra keys, he left.
In the car, driving the boys to school, I say, “Daddy’s lost his keys. Did either of you see them?” Silence. Denial by my eldest. “Well, after school, if you find them before me, I’ll make chocolate chip pancakes for dinner.” Cheers.
The day proceeds as normal until I decide to take the dog for a walk in the afternoon – to clear my head and think about the opening of the next novel. I happen to be looking down, in exactly the right direction, and this is what I see:
My youngest loves tape so I know immediately who put them there. I photographed the hanging keys and emailed the photo to my husband: “Found them!”
The little guy, when confronted at pickup laughed and yelled, “April Fools!”
He was pretty proud of himself.
We are in so much trouble.
He’s slipping. He should have taped them up under something or behind something. Of course you’re in a boat load of trouble the second he figures out how to pick locks.
Oh, geez, I just had a thought. Have you had his IQ tested? I’ve been reading along and realized, finally, who your little spy is reminding me of. My ex-boyfriend, who among his bag of tricks carries a genius IQ.
Oh, I disagree that he should have taped them elsewhere. He taped them in plain sight where still no one found them. Perfect prank, since he accomplished “hiding” them and making you feel like you should have found them a lot sooner.
Definitely sounds like you’ve got a genius on your hands.
Wow! The fact that he even understands the concept of April Fools at that age is impressive to me. I don’t think I clued in to the purpose of the day until much later.
The bright side to all of this is going to be that at least the rest of you are going to get training as well. The more inventive your son gets, the more you will all have to stay on your toes to keep up. Good luck with that!
I’m really beginning to admire your little guy. The perfect prank indeed. A true spy knows to notice the, usually, unremarkable. You better start paying close attention to your environment, and know where the tape dispenser is. :O
BTW. The new site looks great.
PS. I didn’t see “Spy Training 101″ right off. I’l study it when I get home. Squid suckers look like Tommyknockers from the movie.