April Fools--What's Your Best April Fools Joke?

As many you know, April 1st is just around the corner, only two days away! And while April 1st is rather significant for me this year, as it marks the official release of my debut novel, Sanctuary for a Lady, it also happens to be April Fools Day. (For the record, I keep telling myself that my novel releasing on April 1st is incidental and not because my editor thought my writing was a joke.)

So to celebrate April Fools this year, I thought I'd share with you a recent prank I fell for. Totally. Completely. Utterly.

I recently had my website redone, so it could look professional rather than homemade by the time my book released. (Go on, you can take a peek at my new website at www.naomirawlings.com) I used Casey King at Kings Royal Media to do my site, and he did a wonderful job, if any of you were wondering. But little did I know Casey is a bit of a prankster.

So Casey was in the middle of tweaking my site, and sending me a bunch of emails, asking details for little things, and I was in town doing errands and answering his emails via my smart phone. In one of these emails, I asked if he'd gotten the check I sent him earlier that week, as he should have received it. Then I got in my car and headed for home. My phone did its little "ding" signifying I had another email, so when I pulled up to our town's one and only flashing light, I checked my email.

More accurately, I read the first line first line of the email, which said my check bounced.

Now let me pause at this point of my story and encourage you all to learn two lessons from my tale of woe. First, don't check email while driving, as you tend to miss important pieces of information. Second, when you check email, be sure to read the entire thing and not just the first line.

Unfortunately for me, I did neither of these things. I saw the line that said my check bounced, and I turned the car around and headed to my bank, fuming and absolutely furious. You see, I KNEW I had money in my account to cover the check, or SHOULD have had money in the account. But living North of Nowhere as I do, and using our town's tiny little bank, we've had trouble in the past with the bank putting our money in the wrong account. This has happened twice actually, and yes we still bank there (though I'm not sure why).

So at this point, I was absolutely certain the bank messed up one of our deposits yet again. I stormed into the bank, which was about ready to close. Then I proceeded to tell the poor teller one of my checks bounced and ask for a print out of my bank statement as I started rummaging in my purse for my most recent deposit slip.

The teller so graciously accessed my account information and responded that I had money in the account and nothing should have bounced. Then she asked if I knew what check number I was talking about. So I gave her the check number, and she told me the check cleared.

I frowned and replied that that there must have been some mix up with the business associate who said my check hadn't cleared. Then I thanked her, turned around, and completely confused by this point, pulled out my phone to email my website guy. The phone screen came on, and before I started a new email, I glanced at the rest of his original email, which told me (ever so kindly) at the very bottom that my check HAD NOT bounced.

How about that for April Fools a month early!

So now you know the worst prank I've fallen for in the past decade, I'm curious about you. What's the worst prank you've ever fallen for? Or if you don't want to share that, why don't you share the best prank you've ever pulled?