No Foolin'

It was warm for April. The guys were glad they had the heat turned off in their fake fireplace. As much as they liked to talk in front of the flickering flames, they might not have enjoyed the warmth of the fire in the loft that time of year. There didn't seem to be any special agenda for the evening and that suited them too. But….

They had just got themselves settled when Brian decided there was there was something he should call to Justin's attention. "You have two unmatched socks on, Baby," he informed the kid. "One's red and one's green. How the hell did you do that? It's not Christmas you know."

"Oh," Justin responded disinterestedly, without checking Brian's accuracy.

"Well, look at them," Brian demanded. "They're red and green."

"If I looked at them, wouldn't I be questioning your eyesight?" Justin asked. "I certainly don't want to call attention to any of the old-age deterioration I might notice in you. If you say they're red and green, then they must be red and green."

"Well they are red and green and you look dopey in them," Brian insisted. "Didn't anybody else notice all day?"

"Could be that nobody else looks at me the way you do," Justin smiled at him.

"I guess I hope that nobody else looks at you the way I do," Brian smiled back at him. "But red and green socks are a bit out of the ordinary and I don't think I could blame anybody for noticing that."

"So unmatched socks are the only thing that might make anybody notice me, eh?" Justin seemed to complain.

"OK," Brian gave up. "You just put them on to get a rise out of me and I guess you did get a rise out of me. So I'm just going to tell you that you must have another pair just like those, and forget about the whole thing."

"And notice other things about me?" Justin suggested.

"What else is there about you to notice?" Brian wondered. " It's still not Christmas though."

"It's not Christmas, Bri," Justin agreed, "But it is the first day of April, April first, that is. Doesn't that ring a bell?"

"April Fool's Day," Brian thought he remembered. "Isn't today April Fool's Day?"

"I guess it is," Justin allowed, "Not that I want to call attention to your failing memory."

"And you put those socks on deliberately to irritate me," Brian decided. "Well I'm not irritated, so there."

"You know I think you're the greatest guy in the world, and very worth-while irritating," Justin informed him. "But I did not put these socks on just to irritate you. I put them on to irritate everybody."

"Yeah," Brian concluded. "You are an equal opportunity irritator. I know that. But what's the point?"

"It's something I learned from my third grade teacher, Bri," Justin told him. "He used to do that every April Fool's Day and when the kids told him about it, he just said he knew they were trying to get him to look down at his socks just to fool him, and he was too smart to fall for that. He drove the kids crazy."

"So you learned something in third grade, did you?" Brian joked. "Did you learn anything in the other grades or is that all you learned in school?"

"Gee whiz, Brian," Justin complained. "You are a grouch. I know you used to ignore holidays but I really thought you were getting better about that."

"Adults don't do April Fool's Day stuff," Brian insisted.

"Oh yeah," Justin defended himself. "Well Mikey thought it was a great idea. When I pulled it on him, he decided to wear two different socks too. And Mikey's even older than you. So what do you say to that?"

"Adults don't do April Fool's stuff," Brian repeated.

"I guess I should have expected that reaction," Justin admitted. "I love you anyhow, even if you are always a grump."

"I had a bad experience one April Fool's Day, Baby," Brian, with a far away look in his eyes, began his story. "I think I was in the third grade too. April Fool's Day is big for third graders. Even grouchy ones. Anyway, I was on my way home from school for lunch. Way back then we walked home for lunch. Well there was this railroad about six blocks from our house. A train had derailed and some steers on their way to market escaped. I saw a couple walking down the street."

"Gee," Justin interjected enthusiastically. "That would be so neat."

"Well, it wasn't neat at all. "I hurried home and told my mother and she wouldn't believe me. It was April Fool's Day after all. Clare said it was the lamest April Fool's Day joke she had ever heard. I told some of the neighbors too and nobody would believe me. It was the greatest thing that had ever happened to me and nobody would go out and look. I was really mad."

"If I had been there, I would have gone out and looked," Justin tried to console him.

"If I was really as grumpy as you say I am," Brian posited, "I would say where were you when I needed you. But since you weren't born yet back then, I guess you think you have an excuse."

"I never make excuses," Justin responded.

"I'll try to remember that," Brian laughed.

"If I were as grumpy as you," Justin laughed back, "I'd say that with your failing memory, I figure I'm safe."

"OK, don't look at your socks and ruin your joke," Brian said. "But would it ruin your joke to look at mine?" Justin did so and saw that one of Brian's socks was blue and the other was green." He looked at Brian, astounded.

"I noticed your socks this morning, Kiddo," Brian revealed, "And with my alert, mature but still agile, mind, I figured out what was going on right away, so after you left I changed my socks. It works, Sunshine. Nearly drove Cynthia crazy. You have a diabolical little mind, Baby."

"Not so little," Justin rebutted. "Maybe diabolical though but I'm not in your league - yet. So maybe the joke's on me this time. I guess I fell for you pretending to fall for my joke."

"I'm just glad you fell for me at all," Brian told him.

"You can elaborate on that if you want to, Bri," Justin encouraged him.

"OK, I guess I love you," Brian told him. "Yeah, I'm sure I love you. I guess I should remind you of that more often than I do."

"You can remind me any time you want to," Justin purred. "And as often as you want to."

"Well then let me also remind you that it's still April Fool's Day," Brian responded with an unexpected reminder.

"I hate April Fool's Day," Justin decided. "I suppose all that 'I love you' business was just another big April Fool's Day joke."

"Maybe not," Brian told him, "But just to be safe, you might want to check with me tomorrow."

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