My son likes the show The Simpsons.  He watches it every time it’s on.  He’s eight and a half now and he’s just beginning to get all the humor.  He really likes it when Bart prank calls Moe’s Tavern.  So much so that he came to me last week and said “Dad I really want to prank call somebody”.  This made me very happy.  I have very fond memories of the prank calls me and my friends pulled off in our childhood.  I have a friend, who shall remain nameless because of her position of authority over children these days, who was a master of the prank call.  She would call up a particular business and pretend to be a little girl looking for her mommy.  This was a true master at work.  We had many laughs over the responses she would get.  These fond memories are what made me so proud when my son wanted to do a prank call.  I could see the devious jokester beginning to awaken in him.  It’s easy to make people mad.  It’s much harder to make people laugh which is why it’s much more satisfying and more in demand as a life skill.  So I willingly grabbed my cell phone and dialed his mother’s cell number.  I was really curious as to what he might say but I left it up to him.
The problem with the modern prank call is that you can’t prank your friends anymore.  Home phones have caller I.D. and cell phones automatically bring up the name of the person who is calling.  There is no anonymity.  Knowing this I had to first let mom in on the joke beforehand so she could play along.  I get the boy into the back of the house and I dialed mom who is in the kitchen at the front of the house.  I handed him the phone.  Mom answers.  He say’s “Is there a Ben, last name Dover there?”  Mom plays along and Yells out, “Ben Dover, I’m looking for Ben Dover, Ben Dover.”  Hearing this, the joke is up.  My son is bent over laughing uncontrollably and can’t say anything else.  Overall I would say a pretty good first prank call.  He’s still got plenty of time to practice his skills.  If you get a call from someone with a squeaky voice asking you if your refrigerator is running just play along please.  It’ll make his day.