April Fools' Day - fooling or being fooled?

Today is probably one of the days of the year when we all would be more careful than normally when it comes what we would and would not believe. It's April First. In many countries, it’s All Fools' Day today. Today people are “officially” allowed to tell jokes and pull each other's legs in the most positive way. It's a fun day really.

I’ve been fooled and I’ve fooled more or less every year. I could list a bunch of funny jokes I’ve told and I’ve been told to. But there’s definitely one over the others. Why it’s the best is that it simply worked out perfectly. Unfortunately, I wasn’t fooling. I was fooled. And I fell into the trap so thoroughly that I had to give the entire honor to the one who had fooling me – he was my father.

My father, my step sisters, and I were on Canary Islands having a week-long vacation. Every evening when we went to have dinner in a restaurant there were young women and men in the streets nearby the hotel with cameras taking photos of the tourists who allowed it. Then they printed and sold the photos to the people who appeared in them in the following days.

As loving attention, my little sisters were excited to smile and pose to all the possible cameras and photographers. It made them feel like movie stars. They never bought any pictures – naturally my father made sure at the beginning that there was no obligation to buy them – but they loved the attention.

We had a habit to take the towels at the pool of the hotel to make sure we'd get the best seats for sunbathing for the day. As an early riser, usually it was me who did that but one morning my father did it. My sisters and I were still in bed when my father came back to the room all over upset and shouted, "Damn you kids, now there's one of those photographer ladies at the pool asking for $20 of three photos of you two!" He was shouting to my sisters who got all over puzzled because earlier my father had made sure there’d be no obligation to buy any photos.

In addition to being puzzled, my little sisters got rather scared. My father said that we should go and clear up the issue and say we didn't want any pictures and we’d not be obligated to buy them. As being considerate and feeling sorry for my sisters, I promised to go with them. Even if they were able to speak English they were just kids and too young to deal with an adult. I assured the elder of my little sisters though that she should do the speaking because I had not posed for anyone and it was their business – I’d be just the support on the background for them.

When we'd left the hotel room it all suddenly became clear to me. I realized what an absolute idiot I'd been! But I didn't say anything to my sisters. When we got to the pool and there was no one there – it was around seven o’clock – they realized what was going on especially after I pointed out it was All Fools’ Day. It was a hard work to try to hold the chuckle when I saw their faces because they got all over furious. My younger sister had hardly dressed up – she was still in the pajamas.

When we got back to the hotel room my father opened the door with an innocent look on his face and asked, "What's wrong?," but finally he couldn't help the laughter. I laughed with him while my sisters were absolutely furious and swearing vengeance.

When I'm recalling it it's making me laugh. It was a great trick – all over perfect and successful. It did no harm for any of us even if it got my sisters totally upset. When we were having breakfast I said to my father that he should think of a career of an actor because he had played his part very well.

For me, it’s usually rather easy to notice when people are pulling my leg. You can see it of people’s appearance, the look in their eyes, and the way they gesticulate. But there are people who have the ability to be thoroughly and sincerely lifelike and convincing, even if they were saying something that wasn’t true.