Coffee Table Declarations
Monday, April 04, 2005
Last Friday (April Fools Day), my boss was leaving the office with a whoopee cushion in hand. She explained that she thought her kids would get a laugh out of it and so of course, I had to tell her my famous whoopee cushion story.
When I was in Junior High, I had a wonderful history teacher who made the kids laugh and threw candy at us when we answered questions correctly. One memorable day we played a game much like Truth or Dare. The teacher would ask someone a question related to history. If the person got it right, they were safe. If they got the question wrong however, they had to do a "dare" which wasn't really a dare because I don't think we had much choice in the matter. Some of the dares were embarrassing and all were funny. One kid had to ride a tricycle around the room, one had to compose a poem about the girl sitting next to him, etc. Those are the just the ones that stand out in my mind, but practically everyone got the questions wrong.
When my turn rolled around I was hoping to get it right but of course I didn't. For my "dare" the teacher gave me a whoopee cushion and told me that I had to put it on the science teacher's chair. All of the kids in my history class were also in my science class so everyone was in on the joke.
The next day before science class, a couple of us covertly hid the whoopee cushion on the science teacher's chair, under the regular cushion. It couldn't have been more perfect. The science teacher walked in with the strict, stern English teacher who had forgotten to give us a homework assignment. As she stood in front of the class explaining the assignment in a serious manner, the science teacher sat down and of course, a loud sound emanated from the whoopee cushion at just the right moment.
The English teacher turned and gave the science teacher a shocked glare while the science teacher turned bright red from his face to the top of his balding head. In retrospect I guess it was kind of a mean thing to do, but we didn't know the English teacher would be there. After she left the room we explained that the history teacher put us up to it and the science teacher swore revenge on him. We never did get to play that game in history class again and I never knew why.
When I was in Junior High, I had a wonderful history teacher who made the kids laugh and threw candy at us when we answered questions correctly. One memorable day we played a game much like Truth or Dare. The teacher would ask someone a question related to history. If the person got it right, they were safe. If they got the question wrong however, they had to do a "dare" which wasn't really a dare because I don't think we had much choice in the matter. Some of the dares were embarrassing and all were funny. One kid had to ride a tricycle around the room, one had to compose a poem about the girl sitting next to him, etc. Those are the just the ones that stand out in my mind, but practically everyone got the questions wrong.
When my turn rolled around I was hoping to get it right but of course I didn't. For my "dare" the teacher gave me a whoopee cushion and told me that I had to put it on the science teacher's chair. All of the kids in my history class were also in my science class so everyone was in on the joke.
The next day before science class, a couple of us covertly hid the whoopee cushion on the science teacher's chair, under the regular cushion. It couldn't have been more perfect. The science teacher walked in with the strict, stern English teacher who had forgotten to give us a homework assignment. As she stood in front of the class explaining the assignment in a serious manner, the science teacher sat down and of course, a loud sound emanated from the whoopee cushion at just the right moment.
The English teacher turned and gave the science teacher a shocked glare while the science teacher turned bright red from his face to the top of his balding head. In retrospect I guess it was kind of a mean thing to do, but we didn't know the English teacher would be there. After she left the room we explained that the history teacher put us up to it and the science teacher swore revenge on him. We never did get to play that game in history class again and I never knew why.
