Apparently some April Fool's jokes aren't funny

One April Fool's Day I played a joke on Joyce, my good friend. We lived in Caldwell, on Canyon Hill, a respectable neighborhood, kept our freezer in the garage and kept lots of Joyce's family's food there along with ours. Like our beef, freezer jams; their pork or lamb. And so on. We almost always left the garage door open.

That particular April 1st I called Joyce and told her someone had come in and stolen everything from the freezer. Everything. Joyce was doubtful. She knew what day it was. But I said, "No. Really," Then I said I guessed it was only the food they were after because they left the tricycle belonging to my daughter. A convincing detail and a nice touch, I thought. 

Joyce was shaken. It was a lot of food, really a lot (big freezer) and represented money and work she and her husband had expended. I told her I was so sorry and every bit as shaken. Our slaughtered steer. And so on. We both had big families.

I have no recollection of how long I carried on the "joke."  Not too long. I'm not mean, you know. So eventually, and we're talking minutes here, I said, "April Fool." She was relieved but not terribly happy with me.

Several months later, someone did break in and steal our food. By then Joyce and Ferris had bought their own freezer and kept their food on their own property. When I told her about the real theft, she said it served me right.