Hi all,

I had hoped to continue my annual tradition of posting an April Fools story, but RL has kept me so busy that I haven't had time to think up an idea, much less to write a story based on it. So instead of writing an April Fools story, I'll issue an April Fools challenge... Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to write an L&C story in which someone tries (successfully or not) to pull a prank on someone else. Your choice of prankster (note the lower case 'p') and intended victim.

Have fun,
Lynn

Ooh! I hope some people write these! I don't have time to write these days, but I do love a good holiday theme fic!

I pick Jimmy as the prankster and the Chief as the prank-ee. My April Fool's submission (with my apologies to the younger generation who may not understand the prank):

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Jimmy knew he was in serious trouble. No. Make that SERIOUS trouble. He'd been planning to get the Chief all month and, well, things just went wrong and ... wronger. He'd heard that the launch of EPRAD's polar mapping satellite would pass over Metropolis just as it went out of the atmosphere. As it happened, there was a M*A*S*H marathon on shortly afterward. Inspiration struck and one thing led to another. One of his Dad's friends had even loaned him a pair of high-powered binoculars for the occasion.

He'd been feeding the Chief information on the satellite's mission, goals, instruments, personnel and anything else he could think of for a week. It was a noon liftoff and his window of opportunity was launch plus 3 minutes. The monitors in the bullpen were on and tuned to the EPRAD broadcast. Perry's response was an appropriate mixture of tolerance and interest. He was pretty sure he'd played his hand right.

All morning everything was going well. Just after the rocket launched was when things started to go south. When Superman flew in the window carrying Lois, Jimmy forgot all about the prank. She'd been out following up on a big story and apparently had another front page in her near future. Whatever the situation had been, she was smiling now and thanking Superman for her latest rescue. Superman seemed to be in good spirits and was greeting people he knew in the newsroom rather than flying off immediately.

That's how it happened that Superman was talking to Jimmy when the EPRAD announcer broke the mood. The explosive bolts to release the second stage booster hadn't fired properly and separation hadn't occurred. If the backups weren't able to fire then atmospheric drag would cause the rocket to crash in one of the most densely populated parts of Europe.

Jimmy had turned his attention to the EPRAD broadcast when Superman asked, "Can I borrow those?"

Superman repeated, "Jimmy, can I borrow your binoculars? I need a little more detail to see whether I have a satellite to chase down or not."

"What? Oh, sure. Here." Superman stepped to the window, looked through the binoculars and the deed was done. "Thanks," was all he said as he handed the binoculars back. Then Clark flew out the window in his Superman suit.

Jimmy was pretty sure that he was the only one who had seen until he heard Mad Dog Lane explode behind him. "YOU!!! YOU RAT! You dirty lowlife rotten stinking RAT!"

Yep. SERIOUS trouble.
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At the risk of showing my age...

I just hope Clark realizes what has happened before he returns to his civilian identity.

Actually, I almost hope he doesn't. It would make for a hysterical sequel.

Thanks for the day brightener.

Joy,
Lynn

Oh, Shallowford,

Pst. You should think of a title and submit it to Labby over at the Archives.

I've seen many a MASH rerun, but this one escapes me. Care to shed a little light on it?

[img]https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR8WfJ1Z5owOAwsgcIK4ytwHuGtA-7hqGuFuSDg0wHYgRGpvXudMQ[/img]

Thanks.

Hehe! What fun! At first, when M*A*S*H* was mentioned, I thought you were going to pull the "no sir, flies" thing. This was better.

Thanks all. This was the first thing that came to me when I saw the challenge. The muse doesn't strike often but it's nice when it does.

DC--I don't remember the "No sir, flies" gag. Help?

Not really a gag. And I wasn't ever a M*A*S*H fan. But I remember something about one of the officers taking a rice pudding? and commenting on "raisins" in it. And the guy under him was like "No sir, flies."

Thanks DC.

There was so much good material in that show. I wish there was a way to work in Hunnicut's "Starting tomorrow, he gets "taller!"


[For those who haven't seen "The Winchester Tapes". Winchester becomes concerned about his weight when his uniforms are fitting a bit tight so he begins dieting with highly variable results. He doesn't find out his wild fluctuations in weight throughout the episode are due to BJ's creative tailoring of his uniforms. The funniest line in the episode (above) was at the fadeout and IIRC was an ad-lib by Mike Farrell.]

Anyone else?

I don't have time to write up a new story right now <<I don't have time to work on my current ones either )

M*A*S*H was simply the best. It was the first series that I cried during the show's finale!