Old age & treachery will overcome youth & skill

My favorite character on the old M*A*S*H TV show from the 1970's and 80's was B.J. Honeycutt. He was the even keeled, seemingly regular guy who was responsible for most of the "anonymous" practical jokes whose humor helped keep everybody sane in a seemingly insane world.

Jayson and Zachary are always telling me that I have no sense of humor because I don't usually don't find their brand of humor amusing. Tonight I got them so good and showed them that their old man has a sneaky and delightful sense of humor.

I brought home a demo cell phone from work for testing to see if I want to upgrade. The boys even saw the phone and commented on how maybe now I might be able to text faster since the phone has a slide out QWERTY keyboard. Its been hard to text with my current phone because it won't let me send text messages to people in my cell phone voice address book, but requires a separate and redundant text message address book, which I didn't want to manually keep in sync. Another reason I have been slow when sending text messages is because I don't practice for hours everyday using a telephone keypad to send cryptic shorthand alphanumerical messages like some people I know.

Part way through the evening, I decided to send both Jayson and Zachary text messages on their cell phones. I thought for sure they'd know it was me because I said something to the effect, "How's THIS for fast texting?" and sent the message several times. I expected them to know it was me. They didn't, because they didn't recognize the cell phone number. They answered back and asked who I was. The hook was set. I had em! I spent the better part of an hour texting both of them and asking them questions and telling them things about themselves that only someone close to them would know. They became more and more annoyed and insisted that I tell them who I was. I gave them so many hints, which went right over their heads. I could hear them laughing and comparing text messages with each other. They kept getting frustrated and asking me to identify myself. They wanted to know how I knew both of them and how did I get their phone numbers. I repeatedly sent the message, "Who's your Daddy?". They didn't get the hint. Finally I made reference to the movie, "Dumb and Dumber", which had been a topic of discussion at a recent family meeting. They still didn't get the hint, but their smart mother, who was seated next to them, immediately recognized the hint and told them that it must be their father. The tumblers must have finally clicked because they both came running into the room where I was. They asked if I had been texting them. I kept a straight face, but eventually they found the new phone on the floor by the side of the desk where I had sort of hidden it. Even though we had a long, good laugh together, I think they were a little sad to have the mystery come to an end. They won't soon forget being the objects of their dear old Dad's practical joke. This one will be told and retold and enjoyed again and again.