Origin of the Book: Shocking Pranks

     At the moment, he was thinking about what epic practical joke he should pull on his college roommate. Being a Meerca meant Theo particularly appreciated a good joke. True to his species, he was a big prankster with a fun and bold sense of humor. With April Fool’s Day just around the corner, whatever Theo planned would have to be especially mischievous!

     “Theodore, I asked you a question,” his professor said sternly.

     Theo looked up at the Elderlyboy Moehug with flushed cheeks, embarrassed to be caught in the act of daydreaming and completely zoning out. “Can you repeat the question, Professor Bright?”

     The older Moehog sighed dramatically, but his warm eyes were understanding and kind. Theo was far from the first student to space out during class. “I asked which historical novel you’ll be writing your essay on. The assignment is due next week and I need to know all book titles in advance so I can prepare questions for your upcoming presentation.”

     Theo groaned internally. He had officially hit that point of the semester where he was tired of writing essays and papers. While he loved this literature class, reading books for it was exhausting and writing for it was becoming tiring too. It left him with no energy for his own personal writing projects, which he found extremely troublesome.

     That is when inspiration struck.

     “Instead of writing an essay on a historical novel…” Theo said slowly, thinking out loud as he spoke. “Can I write a mini book instead? On a topic of my choosing?”

     Professor Bright leaned back on his desk placed at the front of the room and let out a thoughtful little hum. “It’s an interesting proposal,” the Moehog admitted. “Certainly not something a student has suggested before…”

     “It would be on a topic I’m really passionate about,” Theo added eagerly, fervently hoping to convince Professor Bright to agree. The Cloud Meerca knew exactly what he wanted to write about - something he knew extremely well: practical jokes and pranks! It had always been one of Theo’s dreams to capture his various shenanigans and formally document his efforts. This was as good an opportunity as any.

     Professor Bright strolled back to his podium before finally meeting Theo’s hopeful gaze and giving him a cheerful nod. “Sure, Theodore. Sounds interesting. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.”

     “Thank you, Professor!” Theo exclaimed. He glanced up at the clock and watched the hands slowly ticking towards class end. Now that he had an assignment he could actually look forward to, he was even more anxious to leave class and get started.

     Upon Professor Bright finishing his lecture and dismissing the class, Theo jumped out of his seat and rushed out of the hall, zig-zagging around slower students still packing up their belongings. He couldn’t wait to tell Max, his best friend and roommate.

     Theo burst through the door, startling the Red Meerca who was writing down a series of numbers and jabbing at his calculator. “You surprised me, Theo! I’m trying to solve an equation here.”

     The Cloud Meerca apologised breathlessly to his math major roommate before launching into an explanation of his afternoon class. “Long story short, I have a chance to write a book about practical jokes! For a grade! Due April Fool’s Day no less. Honestly, it’s a dream come true.”

     Max grinned at his friend, emphatically closing his notebook and setting down his pencil. “We’re Meercas, we love pranks! I’ll help. When do we start?”

     Theo pulled up a chair to Max’s desk and smiled enthusiastically at his friend. “I knew you’d be excited. Let’s start now!”

     For the next several hours, Theo and Max recalled all the practical jokes they had pulled over the last couple of years since meeting each other at Brightvale University. They eagerly wrote down their favorites which included pranks such as freezing bowls of cereal, replacing juice with jelly, and adding googly eyes to random objects.

     “Remember that time I switched your toothpaste with frosting?” Max recalled fondly as Theo nodded in response as he happily wrote it down.

     “Or that time I added salt to your hot chocolate,” Theo snickered.

     “How about when I pushed the time on your alarm clock a couple hours forward and then you were ready for your morning class in the middle of the night?” Max was outrightly chuckling now, clutching at his stomach as he laughed.

     The two friends continued to trade memories of clever jokes late into the evening until Theo’s notebook was filled to the brim.

     “This is actually way longer than my original essay needed to be,” The Cloud Meerca laughed ruefully. “Ironic but unsurprising. It’s easy to write when you’re inspired. I love what we came up with so much, I think I’m going to have this binded and formally printed!”

     True to his word, the next morning Theo arose and practically skipped to Brightvale Books, buzzing with excitement. The wise Ixi shopkeeper gave him advice on the printing process and in a matter of days, Theo had the first copy of his book: Shocking Pranks. It was thick and lime green with a silver dial shape on the front and orange outline.

     On the morning of April Fool’s, Theo awoke energised and ready to present his work to the class. First though, he had a couple pranks to pull. He filled Max’s pillow with half-inflated balloons and put bubble wrap on all the lecture hall seats for his fellow students to be surprised when they sat down.

     Both pranks were well-received and left him in a fantastic mood so he therefore volunteered to present first and joyfully walked the class through his and Max’s inspiration and writing process. At the end of his talk, he met Professor Bright’s gaze with bated breath, anxiously awaiting his feedback.

     “Well, what do you think?”

     The Elderlyboy Moehog laughed long and deep, eyes shining with mirth. “Extremely entertaining, Theodore,” he complimented. “And true to your experiences and passion. Even I have to admit, this was better than a standard essay would have been.”

     Theo cheered, delighted at the response.

     He ended up receiving an A+ on the assignment and resolved to get more copies of his book out there for other pranksters like himself and Max to enjoy. The happiness that this particular assignment brought him led to him taking other literature classes and even comedy seminars so he could formally combine his two favorite academic interests.

     “Shocking Pranks” ended up becoming commonly available in the Magical Bookshop and being considered a regular best-seller, especially when April Fool’s rolls around. In the end, Theo’s random thought in class was the start of an entire career for the funny Cloud Meerca. Naturally, he dedicated his book to no other than his friend Max and Professor Bright.

     The inscription read: April Fool’s can be more than just silly jokes and pranks. It’s also about making your friends and loved ones smile and sharing lots of laughs!

     The End.