House for Sale?
I was helping my dad when I received a text message from William.
William
Today 10:17 AM
My dad and I were fixing the water tank at my next-door neighbour’s house. Mrs. Bumble was having trouble with her water pressure, so I tagged along with my dad as his assistant. Within minutes, William was standing next to us in the basement. He closely inspected what we were doing and then pulled a set of plans out of his pocket and handed them to me. My dad glanced over, took one look, and refocused his attention back to the tank.
The top plan showed a giant ‘House for Sale’ sign with ‘Open House TODAY!’ on the front lawn of Mrs. Bumble’s house. Attached to that sign was another one that read ‘FREE FOOD’. I wasn’t too sure what William had planned this time. Quickly, I flipped to the second plan.
The second plan showed a bunch of cars in Mrs. Bumble’s driveway. Upon closer inspection, William and I were hiding in the nearby bushes watching her standing in the driveway. I gave them back to William and he began to fill me in quietly so my dad wouldn’t hear William’s next greatest idea.
William had spotted an old sign sitting on an empty lot down the road and figured we could add the ‘FREE FOOD’ sign to it as a part of the joke. I still wasn’t quite sure what he had in mind. William then secretly explained that we would place the signs on Mrs. Bumble’s front lawn once she went out to go shopping. Hopefully people driving by would see the sign and stop by to see the house and enjoy the ‘free food’. The funny thing, William explained, was that there was no free food. He thought this was hilarious. I told William that his idea might backfire and that we might want to rethink it. Of course, William assured me that it was just a harmless joke and everything would be fine. My dad spun around to see the two of us quietly discussing the new plans and then went back to work.
Right at that moment, Mrs. Bumble appeared at the top of the stairs and told my dad that she had to go shopping and that she’d be back in about two hours. It was at this point that my dad told me I could go hang out with William and that he’d be working on the tank for another hour or so and would be fine on his own.
The two of us sprinted up the stairs and headed outside. Just then we noticed Mrs. Bumble heading down the road in her car. This was perfect! We headed as fast as we could to the lot to grab the old sign and brought it back to my dad’s shop. We didn’t have a lot of time to spare so we quickly got to work. It didn’t take long for William and me to find a smaller piece of wood to use as the smaller sign. We made some minor modifications and screwed the smaller board to the larger sign. William then found some spray paint and began to spray the words ‘FREE FOOD’ on the sign. It looked good enough that people wouldn’t notice from a distance that it was spray painted on. We grabbed the sign and headed back over to Mrs. Bumble’s house to put our next prank into action.
Within minutes we had the sign mounted beside a large tree on her lawn and then ran back to my house to sit back and watch the show begin. It was a Saturday morning and lots of people were out for a drive. It didn’t take long for the first car to drive by and slow down as it passed. Then, the car slowly turned around and headed back to her house. The car pulled into the driveway and a young couple got out of it and headed up to the front door. The door just happened to be left open in case my dad had to leave to get parts for the tank that he was working on in the basement. The two of us laughed as they went in the door. Within minutes another car came by and pulled into the driveway. Another couple headed to the front door and then disappeared into the house. This continued for another hour, as car after car pulled up and people went inside. The plan was working! Mrs. Bumble would come home to see all the cars in her driveway and the for sale sign. She would be confused by what she would see. William and I would then jump out of the bushes and run over and yell, surprise! This would be one of William’s best pranks to date.
It was getting close to the time when we felt she would be coming home. So, we found a spot to hide in the bushes and waited to surprise her. Eventually, she slowly drove up and stopped her car at the end of her driveway. Her driveway was full of strange cars. She got out of her car and had an astonished look on her face. We were just about to jump out when she spotted the sign on her front lawn. Mrs. Bumble walked over to the sign to take a closer look. We then saw her carefully touch the sign where William had spray painted it. The astonished look suddenly turned to an angry look and she ran to her front door and disappeared inside. William and I weren’t too sure what to do next. Should we wait or go over and see what was happening inside?
Well, we didn’t have to wait for long as all the people inside came hustling out and got in their cars and drove away. Then my dad and Mrs. Bumble came outside and stared at the signs. She was not happy at all and William was surprised that she looked rather upset, instead of amused by his joke. We could hear her complaining to my dad as he was trying to calm her down. That’s when he noticed us in the bushes and pointed directly at us. We pretended not to see him and hoped he would stop pointing. He continued to stare and point. Finally, we made our way out of the bushes and walked slowly over to the house. Without saying a word, my dad pointed at us again and then to the front door. Both of us decided it was best to find out why she was so upset. We went inside and were directed into the kitchen. There, scattered all around, was a tremendous mess of plates, bowls, dishes, and leftover food. My dad began to explain that Mrs. Bumble was having a big party the next day and that she had bought specially catered food the day before that was to be served to the guests. The problem was it had been eaten by all the people that had been tricked into thinking that it was an open house with free food.
William and I realized that our prank had gone too far this time and we both felt terrible. We apologized profusely to Mrs. Bumble and began cleaning up her house right away. My dad told her that everything would be taken care of. The two of us were then told to stop and go take the sign down immediately. We quickly hurried outside and carried the sign over to my dad’s shop. Once it was taken care of, we headed back over to continue cleaning up. It took us over two hours to finish tidying up. It was during this time that I mumbled ‘I told you so’ to William. William must have heard me as he glared at me for a second or two.
In the end, our little prank cost us almost $500, as we had to replace all the food and items that were eaten or used during the open house. On top of that, William and I had to help out at the party by walking around serving food and cleaning up. I guess Mrs. Bumble had the last laugh this time.