I recently saw a video of a college classroom.  It captured an embarrassing incident.

The professor had a rule that cell phones were to be silenced during class. If a student failed to do this and their phone rang, the call had to be answered with the speaker on so everyone could hear.

A girl’s phone rang and the professor reminded her of the rule.

“Hi,” the caller said. “This is Kevin from the Pregnancy Resource Center. Per your request, I am calling to inform you that the test results have come back positive. Congratulations!”

The professor, embarrassed for the student, said, “Okay. You might want to . . . uh . . .”

But the call continued. “There is no need to worry. I know you told us the father is no longer in the picture, but we will be in contact with you throughout this whole process, so don’t worry about anything.”

The professor tried to tell the girl to take the call off speakerphone.

The caller continued, “We provide counseling and other maternity services at no charge.”

To the professor’s relief, the student said, “Call back later, thank you.”

The professor was mortified. He said, “Hey, I want to publicly apologize that we heard that call.”

The girls said, “That’s okay. I’m very sorry. I’ve been expecting this.

“And I already know what I’m going to name the baby. The first name will be April. And the middle name . . . Fools.”

It took a second for that to sink in, both for the class and for the professor. Then there was a huge burst of laughter.

Once things calmed down, the professor said, “I will treasure this. You can’t understand the internal relief I’m feeling.”

We are half a year away from April Fools’ Day. It would be a shame if that day suddenly arrived and you were unprepared to hoax your friends. So plan ahead.

Over the years, I have shared a number of hoaxes, both perpetuated by and suffered by our family. They include simple pranks such as filling the sugar bowl with salt or using a rubber band on the handle of the kitchen sink spray nozzle so when someone uses the sink they get blasted by the sprayer.

On December 31, 1999, our oldest son sneaked downstairs just before midnight and had his hand on the main breaker. As we jubilantly counted down to the new year, he switched off the breaker at the perfect moment, making us think that the dreaded Y2K warning had come true.

One year at Thanksgiving, our youngest son and his sister-in-law doctored a wedding certificate, making it look like they had gotten married. They’d been making goo-goo eyes at each other all morning. Their acting was so good, that when they showed us the fake certificate, we bought the hoax and in shock, congratulated them.

My youngest son is also a master of computer hoaxes, such as reprogramming various keys so that A types Z and so on.

April Fools’ Day is half a year away. Be prepared. And don’t feel you need to wait. My family doesn’t.