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When I was growing up, my family ate out often. This was mainly because Mom hated cooking, and avoided it whenever the budget would allow. We didn't go to fancy places or anything, but usually a few days a week found us having dinner in some local restaurant.

Two that we frequently went to were Denny's and Skipper's. My dad, at certain times when conditions were just right, had a wicked sense of humor. Although in this case, I don't remember if he was the one who thought it up, or me. At any rate, he wholly endorsed it.

Now, this isn't something I'd recommend doing these days, what with terrorism threats and other dangers of our modern society. But when I was a kid, the world was a safer place, and this prank, if you could call it that, was simply harmless fun.

Both those restaurants had containers holding things like packets of cream, sugar, and salt and pepper shakers on each table as they probably still do today. Also, both had their names printed on the sugar packets.

Dad and I both thought it was uproariously funny to swipe a packet or two from Restaurant A, with Restaurant A's name boldly printed on it, and discreetly place it amongst the packets of Restaurant B. And vice-versa. (Mom, on the other hand, did not share our humor about that particular thing. She just scowled disapprovingly.)

The down side to that was that we never got to see the end result. We never saw the reaction when someone went to get some sugar for their coffee in Skipper's, and pulled out a packet with Denny's name on it! If they even noticed at all, that is.

Now that I'm an adult, I only hope that none of the staff got in any trouble about that. If they did, blame my Dad please, not me! I was just a kid at the time...

A second prank, one that was all my idea this time, also involved a packet of sugar. At Denny's.

We were eating at Denny's, and this time we had my Grandma along with us. She was seated next to me, and I was on the inside part of the booth, next to a window. Suddenly, I was struck with a devilish idea.

Now, Grandma always took everything very literally. At face value, you might say. So with this in mind, I waited until her attention was on something and she looked away. Then, I quickly grabbed one of the sugar packets and opened it, dumping the contents into the palm of my hand. I discarded the wrapper so she couldn't see it.

Then I took the salt shaker and held it over my hand, making it appear that I'd just poured out a handful of salt.

I nudged Grandma. "Hey, Grandma. Look at this!" I said, as she got a good look and dumped the handful of sugar into my mouth and swallowed.

She nearly hit the ceiling, and the look on her face was priceless! Etched in horror, her eyes bugged out and she sputtered, "Y-you're going to get high blood pressure for sure! You can't do things like that!" and many, many more such things.

I had to be red in the face with all the laughing I was doing! Poor Grandma was totally clueless that she's just been had.

I don't recall if I ever told her that I actually had eaten sugar, not salt. Ah, well...it was fun while it lasted.

And it created a memory that I still remember, decades later.

Learn more about this author, Laureen Manera.
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