The Phone Prank

Right after 9-11, when flying was very restricted and there were uniformed men everywhere holding assault rifles, my younger brother flew in for the holidays. We had been assigned to pick him up from the airport which was no easy task since you couldn't park and wait and you couldn't go inside so you drove in endless circles until your target appeared. Our parents had directed us to bring him home for the holidays. We dutifully pick him up and began to drive to our parent's home.

My Mom, who worried about these sorts of things, called me as we were heading over.

"Have you got him?"

I'm not sure what possessed me but I said,

"Who?"

"Your brother, of course!"

I said,

"I thought you were picking him up."

With doubt creeping into her voice she said,

"Didn't we ask you to pick him up?"

I repeated,

"I thought you were picking him up, but it's okay. We'll turn around and go get him."

"Oh, thank you. Please hurry. His plane should have already landed."

I hung up my cell phone and without hesitation or discussion my brother, from the backseat, called our Mom from his cell phone.

"Mom, where are you? I thought you were going to pick me up."

"You thought we were going to pick you up?"

She was completely confused at this point and said,

"Well...Mr. Reserved and Mrs. Dabbler are on their way and should be there soon."

"I've been standing here awhile and the guards are starting to look at me funny. I think they want me to move on."

"Oh, my...well...yes...of course...just stay out of trouble."

She hung up and began to harangue my poor father who was already in bed asleep.

"They thought we were suppose to pick him up and now he's in trouble. Were we suppose to pick him up?"

My poor father got up and began to quietly dress, preparing for some future "trouble".

I called my mother.

"We're almost there, have you talked to Brother B? Has his plane landed?"

"Yes, his plane has landed and please hurry because they've started looking at him funny."

"Who's looking at him funny?"

"Those policemen"

"The policemen are looking at him funny? Why? What did he do?"

"He didn't DO anything."

With desperation in her voice that only a mother can feel when she thinks policemen are looking at her baby funny she said,

"Please find him!"

Since the new report was that we are almost to the airport and the crisis had been averted, my father undressed and went back to bed.

My brother waited a couple of minutes and called her again.

"Mom, I still don't see them. Are you sure......hold on Mom......the policemen want to talk to me. I'll call you back."

Mother panicked. Dad dressed...again.

"Hi, Mom. We can't find him. Has he called?"

In an unusually calm voice she said,

"Yes, he called. The policemen wanted to talk to him because he'd been standing there so long."

"Really?"

"Yes, really!"

"Okay. We'll keep looking for him. I'll call you when we find him."

Brother B laughed and then called her.

"Mom, tell Mr. Reserved and Mrs. Dabbler to park because they have taken me inside to question me. They want to go through my bags."

Mom continued to panic. Dad began to pace.

Brother B waited a few minutes and called Mom back.

"Well...the policemen don't believe my story so they're taking me downtown. I'll call you when I can."

Mother, in a tither, called me and said,

"THEY'VE TAKEN HIM TO JAIL."

Barely able to stifle my laugh, I said,

"To which jail?"

"The downtown one. I think your father and I are going to head down there."

And as we walked through their front door I said,

"No, no... we'll find him and bring him home."

The three of us fell out laughing as my parents glared unappreciatively at us and our elaborate hoax. Needless to say, we were in trouble. It was several minutes before my parents could laugh but eventually they did.

At that moment I couldn't fully appreciate their angst for their baby boy. Even though he was a college graduate with a job and "on his own" he was still their baby boy and whatever happened to him happened to them.

Parenthood changes everything. Mr. Reserved and I were married 12 years before God blessed us with Miss G. We were grown but I'm not sure that we were mature or at least we weren't selfless. Children cause their parents to be servants which in turn makes you selfless. I know I didn't fully appreciated how wonderful serving could be until Miss G rocked our world. God commands us to serve in whatever work situation we find ourselves just as if we were serving Him. Sometimes your rewards for service aren't immediate but God promises that you will be rewarded. Watching Miss G's smile as she thanks me is reward enough.

Will I think that her future pranks are rewards? Probably not at that particular moment. I do pray I will always be thankful for the blessing of her life joined with mine. She is such an amazing reward to me that I pray I can be thankful even at the worst of times, even if it is just an elaborate prank.