They Got Me and I Got Them Back!

"All I will say, Mrs. Zubrowski, "said our school receptionist to me as I walked in, "is this is April Fool's Day."

"Oh, I am very much aware of that, and I know I'm a sitting duck. "'

I peeked into my classroom and saw all my students' desks turned backward. When I opened the door, they all rose to their feet and greeted me (backs to me) with what they always say, only backwards. Looking around, I saw the chalkboard were covered in toilet paper, my desk was wrapped in it, the parts of speech posters were upside down, and I wasn't sure what else they had in store.

My co-teacher was there, giggling. "All their desks were upsidedown , thanks to a couple of the boys who got to school very early." When she got up, I whispered, "Watch this."

"Okay, everybody, take out a piece of paper and a pencil. Remember the state capitals test I said we'll be having Friday? Well, I decided to move it up to today." The test was supposed to cover the 11 southern states we've been working on.

Shrieks!

"I didn't study!" "I'm unprepared!" "I only know six of them!" and on went the excuses till I cut them off.

"Number one , what is the capital of Tennessee?"
"Two, the capital of Georgia?"
"Three. Alabama."

After 11, I said, "number 12, what is the capital of Oregon."
"Oregon? What's that?" asked one kid.
"It's a state north of California, I said. '
"Number 13, Montana."
"How should we know?"
"Number 14, New York." Some kids knew this from our previous states that ran from Maine down to Virginia.

I went on and on till I had given them 35 states, hearing comments like, "ARe you going to put these in the grade book? I'm so gonna fail."

"You know I always drop the lowest grade of the quarter, " I said.

"Not on tests, you said!"
"Oh, that's right. Sorry."

Then I started really making them sweat. "Number 36, what is the capital of Thailand?"

"Thailand? Where's that?"
"In Asia."
"I know the capital of Vietnam, " said one boy.
"Good for you, but I need the capital of Thailand."

I asked for the capitals of Canada, Japan, and even Zaire.

At number 40, I said, "Please pass in your tests." They submitted, frowning and moaning about how not fair it was, they'd never even heard of some of those places.

My co-teacher and I had been exchanging knowing glances the whole time.

"April Fool's Day, guys. This test doesn't count!"

Then I took my seat right at the very moment I heard a fart sound. Giggles all around. "Okay, where is it?" I asked. No one fessed up. But every I shifted so that my legs hit the desk, they'd laugh at the fart sound. "Mrs. Zubrowski! That steak last night must've really bothered you!"

"Must have," I said, "which is odd considering I had chicken." Peels of laughter all around, and at clean-up time they revealed the battery powered whoopie cushion they oh-so-cleverly hidden in my desk.