by Abby Klein
Mom brought the food coloring to the table. “Here you go, honey,” she said, handing it to me.
“And here you go, little piggie,” she said to Kenny, as she scooped some more spaghetti into his bowl.
This time, instead of eating the spaghetti, Kenny picked up the bowl, and before anyone could stop him, dumped the whole thing on his head.
He sat in his high chair, giggling, with spaghetti noodles in his hair and sauce dripping down his face.
Kelly and I burst out laughing.
“Girls! Stop laughing! It’s not funny,” said our mom.
“Yes, it is!” we said. “It’s hilarious!”
Mom ran over to Kenny and tried to pick some of the noodles out of his hair and wipe the sauce off his face. “Ugh! This is such a mess! I’m going to have to take you straight to the tub, mister, and give you a bath right now.”
“I’ll help you,” said our dad. “I have a feeling this is going to be a big job.”
They took Kenny and went upstairs to the bathroom.
“Perfect,” I said to Kelly. “Now we have plenty of time to get everything ready.”
CHAPTER 4
The Big Salt Switch
“Kelly, go check and see if they’re in the bathroom yet,” I said.
“Okeydokey!” said Kelly. She tiptoed into the other room and then came racing back. “I can hear the water running, so I think we’re safe. Should I go get that rubber band?”
“No, no. We can’t do that until after mom has finished doing the dinner dishes. We’ll have to sneak downstairs after everyone goes to sleep.”
“Oh, good plan,” said Kelly.
“Let’s see. First, we need to do the old switcheroo with the salt shaker. Go get it and dump out all the salt.”
Kelly grabbed the salt shaker from the table and tried to unscrew the cap. “Boy oh boy, this is really tight,” she said.
“Here. Give it to me, wimp. Let me try,” I said, reaching for the shaker.
Kelly handed it to me, and I tried to get the cap loose. “You’re not kidding! It’s like someone glued it on,” I said. I kept twisting with all my might. “Wait, wait … I think it’s getting looser.”
All of a sudden the cap came flying off, and salt spilled all over the floor.
Kelly picked some up and threw it in the air. “Look! It’s snowing!”
“Shhhhh! Stop fooling around,” I said. “Help me get this cleaned up. We don’t have a lot of time.”
We grabbed a couple of sponges and wiped up the floor.
“Now for the sugar.”
“There’s only one problem,” said Kelly.
“What’s that?”
“Mom keeps it in that cupboard way up there,” Kelly said, pointing to one of the highest cupboards in the kitchen.
“No problem,” I said. “We can just stand on a chair.”
Kelly started to push a chair across the floor. “Hey, hey, hey, pick it up,” I said. “You’re making too much noise.”
Kelly carried the chair over to the cupboard and climbed on top of it. “Shoot,” she said. “I can’t reach it.”
“Stand on your tippy-toes,” I said.
Kelly tried again, but she still couldn’t reach. “Now what?”
“I have an idea,” I said. “I’ll get on my hands and knees on the chair, and you can stand on my back.”
“You’re so smart,” said Kelly.
“Hop down a minute, so I can get up.” I climbed onto the chair and got on my hands and knees. “Now, take your time getting up. Hold on to the counter when you climb on my back.”
Kelly slowly climbed up and stood on my back. “Hey, this is kind of like the tricks we do on the balance beam in gymnastics.”
“Just get the sugar,” I said.
Kelly grabbed the bag of sugar. “Got it!” she said. She put it on the counter and slowly climbed down off my back.
I smiled. “We make a great team,” I said.
Kelly held the salt shaker while I poured in the sugar. “Hold it steady,” I said.
“Now we just have to put the sugar back, so Mom doesn’t suspect anything,” said Kelly.
We performed our acrobatics once more and safely put the sugar back where we found it. Then we put the chair away.
“This is going to be great!” said Kelly.
“I know,” I said. “I can’t wait to see Dad’s face when he tastes sugary eggs!”
Just then our dad walked back into the kitchen. “What did you say?” he asked.
“Ummm … ummm …,” Kelly said.
“I thought I just heard you say ‘Dad,’” he said.
Kelly and I looked at each other.
“Kelly was just wondering what was taking so long,” I said.
“Yeah, yeah,” said Kelly. “I just said to Kasey, ‘Where’s Dad?’”
“Well, your brother was such a mess. It took forever to get all of those noodles out of his hair. Good thing I was there to help your mother.”
“Yeah. Good thing,” I said.
“Well, Kasey and I have to finish the rest of our work,” Kelly said. “We’ll be upstairs if you need us.”
I grabbed the green food coloring, and we went upstairs to our room. Harry was still sitting on my pillow. “Hey there, Harry. Did you have a nice nap?”
“Oh, great!” said Kelly.
“What?”
“Skippy got out of his cage. I hope he didn’t get caught behind the bookcase again.”
We started to search our room for Skippy the hamster. “We need to find him fast, before Mike and Ike do!” I said.
Kelly looked behind the bookcase. “He’s not here.”
I looked in our beds. “He’s not here, either.”
“Maybe he’s curled up in your robot slippers,” said Kelly.
I looked in my slippers. “Nope. Why don’t we check under the beds?”
Kelly looked under her bed, and I looked under mine.
“Found him!” Kelly said.
“And look what I found,” I said, holding up a pack of markers. “The washable markers! Just what we need for our April Fool’s Day trick on Kenny.”
There was a knock on our door. We froze.
“Oh no! I hope they didn’t hear us!” I whispered.
“Come in!” said Kelly.
“Kenny is going to bed,” said our mom. “He wants to say good night.”
“Night, night, bud,” I said, giving him a kiss.
“Night, night, boo-bear,” Kelly said, kissing his other cheek.
“Night, night,” Kenny repeated, blowing us kisses.
“Sweet dreams.”
“Girls, you have about an hour before you have to get ready for bed.”
“Okeydokey,” said Kelly.
My mom closed the door. We waited until her footsteps disappeared down the hall before we started talking again.
For the next hour, Kelly and I continued planning for our big day. We practiced drawing mustaches on some paper until we knew just the one we wanted to draw on Kenny. We found the big rubber band we needed for the sink trick. We talked about how we would get the green food coloring into Madison’s milk. Kelly picked out an outfit for me, and I picked out an outfit for her in preparation for the big twin switch.
“Girls! Time to get ready for bed,” our dad called.
“Already?” said Kelly.
“Time sure flies when you’re having fun,” I said.
We got ready for bed and our parents tucked us in. “Sleep tight,” they said. “Don’t let the bed bugs bite.”
“Night,” we said.
We stayed awake until the house was quiet, and it was really dark.
“Kelly,” I whispered, “I think they’re asleep.”
Kelly sat up in bed. “I think you’re right. I don’t hear a sound.”
“Then it’s time for our Secret Mission,” I said. “Come on!”
CHAPTER 5
The Secret Mission
“What do you want to do first?” asked Kelly
.
“I think we should go downstairs and put the rubber band on the sink hose.”
“I’ve got it right here,” said Kelly, as she pulled it out from underneath her pillow.
I laughed. “Why was it under your pillow? You know the Tooth Fairy only gives you money for teeth, not rubber bands.”
“Ha-ha. Very funny. I put it there because I didn’t want Mom and Dad to see it when they kissed us good night.”
“Okay, let’s go do that first,” I said, “and then when we come back upstairs, we’ll draw Kenny’s mustache.”
“Okeydokey,” said Kelly.
“Now remember, we have to be really quiet. We don’t want to wake up Mom and Dad.”
“What about that third stair?” asked Kelly.
“What about it?” I said.
“It creaks when you step on it.”
“Oh yeah. I forgot about that.”
“I know,” said Kelly. “We could slide down the banister and skip that step altogether.”
I smiled. “Good thinking, sis. Good thinking.”
We tiptoed out of our room and down the hall to the stairs.
“Ready?” I whispered.
Kelly nodded.
I slid down the stair railing, and Kelly came down right after me.
As we started to walk across the living room, Kelly reached for the light switch. I grabbed her hand. “Are you crazy?” I whispered.
“What?” asked Kelly.
“We can’t turn on the light.”
“Then how are we supposed to see what we’re doing?” asked Kelly.
“With this,” I said, holding up a mini flashlight.
Kelly smiled.
I turned on the flashlight and led the way, as we tiptoed into the kitchen.
“Okay, I’ll hold the flashlight,” I said, “while you wrap the rubber band around the hose. That way you can see what you’re doing.”
There was no answer.
“Kelly? Kelly?”
Still no answer. I turned around to see Kelly with her head in the open refrigerator.
I tapped her on the shoulder. “Uh, what are you doing?”
“I figured since we were down here, I might as well have a little midnight snack,” she said, pulling a pudding cup out of the refrigerator.
“Put that back,” I said. “We have a job to do. We don’t have time to eat!”
“Oh, all right,” said Kelly, putting the pudding back in the refrigerator. “You’re such a party pooper.”
“Now come over here and put the rubber band on. I’ll hold the flashlight, so you can see.”
Kelly wrapped the rubber band once around the hose.
“I think you’d better wrap it around a few more times,” I said. “We want to make sure it’s on there good and tight.”
“Okeydokey,” said Kelly. She wrapped it around a few more times. “All set!”
“This is going to be so great!” I said. “When Mom comes down to make breakfast, she’s going to get sprayed right in the face!”
“It makes me laugh just thinking about it,” said Kelly.
“Okay. Come on,” I said. “We still have to draw the mustache on Kenny.”
We tiptoed back to the stairs. Just as I was about to walk up, Kelly poked me.
“What?”
“Remember to skip the third stair from the top,” she whispered.
I nodded my head and gave her a thumbs-up.
We slowly climbed the stairs, making sure to skip that step.
When we got to the top, I grabbed Kelly’s hand, and we tiptoed into Kenny’s room.
I pointed the flashlight into his crib.
“Oh, look at him. He looks so cute,” Kelly whispered, “all snuggled up with his blankie.”
“He’s going to look even cuter with a mustache,” I said, giggling.
I reached into his crib and drew the mustache on his face.
Kelly started to giggle, too.
Kenny moved.
“Oh no! What if he wakes up?” said Kelly.
I put my finger to my lips to say shhhhhh!
Kenny made a couple of little noises.
We held our breath.
Then he pulled his blankie up around his chin and lay still again.
“Whew! That was a close one!” I whispered.
Kelly nodded. “Let’s get out of here.”
As we walked back into the hall, I accidentally stepped on one of Mike and Ike’s dog toys that was lying on the floor.
It let out a loud SQUEAK!
When Mike and Ike heard the noise, they came running out of my parents’ room, whimpering and running in circles.
“No! No! No! It’s not playtime,” I whispered. “It’s time to go back to sleep.”
Before I could grab the toy, Mike and Ike picked it up in their mouths and started to play tug-of-war. Every time they bit down, the toy made another loud SQUEAK!
Just then our mom came out of her room.
We froze.
“What’s going on out here?” she asked us.
We just stared at her.
“Why are you two out of bed?
“Ummm … ummm,” said Kelly.
“We had to go to the bathroom,” I said.
“Both of you?” she asked. “At the same time?”
“Well, you know how twins are,” I said. “We have to do everything together.”
I don’t know if our mom believed us, but she was too tired to argue. “You two need to get back into bed. It’s a school night. You need your rest.”
“Good night, Mom,” we said. “See you in the morning.”
“Good night, girls.”
“That was a close one,” Kelly whispered when we were back in our room.
“A little too close,” I said.
“We’d better go to sleep,” said Kelly. “We have a big day tomorrow.”
“This is going to be the best April Fool’s Day ever!” I said.
“You can say that again,” said Kelly. “I can’t wait!”
“Me, either, sis. Me, either!”
CHAPTER 6
The Big Day
On April Fool’s Day morning, it was not our alarm clock that woke us up, but our mom’s screams.
“AAAAAAHHHHHH! AAAAAHHHHHH!”
Kelly and I sat up in bed.
“She must have seen Kenny’s mustache,” said Kelly, laughing.
“Quick, grab the camera,” I said. “We promised Jake we would take a picture.”
Kelly grabbed the camera, and we raced out into the hall. Our mom was standing there, holding Kenny in her arms. Our dad was there, too.
“Say cheese!” said Kelly.
Kenny smiled a great big happy smile, and Kelly quickly took the picture.
“Girls, did you do this?” asked our dad.
We smiled.
“Why would you do such a thing to your brother?” asked our mom.
“April Fool’s!” we said, laughing hysterically.
Our dad started laughing, too. “Good one, girls!”
“Bill, why are you laughing?” our mom asked him.
“Because it’s funny. Kenny isn’t hurt. He just has a little marker on his face.”
“Don’t worry, Mom,” I said. “We made sure to use washable markers.”
“Thank goodness,” said our mom. “I wouldn’t want to take him to story time at the library looking like this!”
“I’ll wash him off,” said our dad. “Why don’t you go down and start breakfast?”
Our dad took Kenny into the bathroom, and Mom headed downstairs.
Kelly and I smiled at each other. “Here comes trick number two,” Kelly said.
We listened carefully to our mom’s footsteps. “I think she’s in the kitchen now,” I said.
“She’ll be turning on the sink any second,” said Kelly.
“Shhh!” I said. “Here we go. Three, two, one …”
“AAAAHHHH! AAAAHHHH!”
Kelly and I gave each ot
her a high five.
Our dad came out of the bathroom with Kenny just in time to see our mom marching back up the stairs with her hair and face dripping wet.
Dad tried not to laugh, but he couldn’t help himself. “Honey,” he said, chuckling, “what happened to you?”
Kenny pointed to Mom and said, “Swim! Swim!”
“No, sweetie, mommy did not go for a swim,” our mom told him. “Mommy got sprayed in the face by the sink hose when she turned on the water.”
“April Fool’s!” we said, and Kelly took another picture.
“At least you won’t have to take a shower this morning,” I said, giggling, “since you already took one in the kitchen sink.”
“You two are Double Trouble,” said our mom. “Why don’t you go downstairs and wipe up the water off the kitchen floor while I go change into some dry clothes.”
“Okeydokey,” said Kelly.
“Okeydokey,” said Kenny.
Kelly and I went downstairs and started mopping up the floor. “I think she got sprayed pretty good,” said Kelly.
“I know,” I said. “Look at all this water on the floor!”
“I wish I was down here to see it.”
“Me, too!” I said.
“So far, so good,” said Kelly. “The first two tricks worked perfectly.”
“Now it’s Dad’s turn,” I whispered.
Mom, Dad, and Kenny walked into the kitchen.
“All done, Mom,” we said. “It’s all wiped up.”
“Thanks, girls. How about some breakfast?”
“Can we have eggs today?” asked Kelly.
“Eggs?” asked our mom. “I was about to make some oatmeal.”
“But I really feel like eggs this morning.”
“Eggs! Eggs!” said Kenny.
“See, Kenny wants eggs, too.”
“Eggs! Eggs!” Kenny said again.
“Eggs sound good to me,” said Dad.
“And just wait until you taste them,” I whispered to Kelly.
“All right,” said Mom. “If that’s what everybody wants, then I’ll make eggs.”
She whipped up some scrambled eggs and put them on the table.
“Dad, why don’t you serve yourself first,” I said.