Cell Phone Mischief

His mischief shall return upon his own head, and violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.

Psalms 7:16

     Sometimes, we as humans like to joke or play tricks on each other.  Sometimes it is funny and sometimes it is carried too far.  However, we often forget that what we do is often visited upon us.  Perhaps it can be blamed on human nature that a person often wants to “pay back” the person who tricked them, but I think we reap what we sow. 

     Well, this particular night we were in the parking lot of our church after a youth service.  Everyone had pretty much gone home.  My dad got busy talking with someone after they locked up the church and it was freezing outside.  My brother, youngest sister, and I went to the vehicle to wait but it was still pretty cold.

     Minutes ticked by and I was getting bored.  My brother and sister were talking but somehow I had been excluded from their conversation.  So, I decided to call my mom who had stayed home with my twin sister.  I had probably only talked with her a couple minutes when she told me she had to go.  She hung up, but then I got an idea.

    Though she was no longer on the phone, I kept talking.  My younger sister started parroting what I was saying and then she and my brother would laugh.  I decided to switch my one-sided conversation up a bit.  I began to give an account of my brother and sister, how they behaved, what they did, etc.  They immediately went silent as they wanted to hear what I was telling my mom about them.

     I was having a great time but after a few minutes I got tired and said, “Okay, you wanted to talk to Micaiah?  Here he is.”  I handed it to my brother and waited for it to dawn on him that I had been talking on the phone with no one at all.  My brother answered and there was a slight pause.

    Then to my surprise, he began his own one-sided conversation.  My mouth dropped open slightly in shock (my brother was playing along).  Interesting, I listened to his one-sided conversation and was pretty amazed that it sounded very believable.  My brother probably talked about three or so minutes and then he said, “Well, here is Robyn.”

    We both watched Robyn in anticipation as she took the phone and answered it.  It only took a moment for it to register and then she scowled at my brother and I.  We both burst out into laughter while Robyn looked on at both of us irritably. I thought it was pretty funny, especially when my mom called me back twenty minutes into our trip back home.  After a few minutes my mom asked if she could speak with Robyn and so I handed to phone back to Robyn.  “Mom wants to speak to you.”

    Of course, there was no way Robyn wanted to fall for the same trick twice so she tapped on my phone and made sure mom was on before she began talking.  She talked for a little while and then gave it back to me letting me know that mom was still on the phone and wanted to talk to me.

    I stared at the phone, not sure if my mom was on or not and with my sister looking at me smugly I thought she might be trying to trick me.  However, I knew I had to answer just in case it was my mom.  I then had a vague idea of how my sister felt about getting tricked.  No one likes getting tricked and sometimes it can be pretty embarrassing.

     I answered and there was a long pause.  I was just about to shut my phone when my mom answered.  I was relieved but I had learned my lesson.  I should be careful when I joke, how I joke, and I should also think of the consequences it may have on someone else.

     My brother said he had just one question during this episode: “When did you stop talking to mom and start on your own one-sided conversation?”