My experience is a real example of what they mean when they say that pranks go wrong; I got into trouble for an innocent prank that I thought we would all laugh at and enjoy.
Because my school is a boarding house, I lived in the hostel during my years in secondary school. We usually clean the entire school premises and cut down the grass on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.
On this specific Friday evening, the bell rang and we made our way to our assembly ground where the labor master gave every one of us our portion of grass to cut. We know that some people would remain in the hostel and never come out to work, while others would pretend to be ill and dodge their way out of the crowd.
While we were cutting the grass, some boys saw a snake and killed it. They wanted to throw it away, but we begged them to give it to us so we could play pranks on those who didn't show up to work on the field. At first, they refused, but we persisted until they gave in, and we got excited to have the snake.
Well, I wasn't the only one who planned this I came up with the idea first, making me the master planner and ringleader of our group of six people who planned this crazy prank.
What Did We Plan?
We decided to go into our room since that is where all the lazy students hide. Our room serves as a hideout for lazy people because no teacher can easily see you in it, and it is a little bit away from other hostels. Therefore, the majority of teachers are familiar with everyone in the room and do not need to go after someone again when they see us, so they think we always follow the rules and regulations of the school, not realizing that our room serves as a hiding place for some people.
To scare those students who dodged in our room after our evening work, we hid the snake and brought it to our room. We then dropped the snake and shut the door on them, we then shouted Snake! Snake! Snake!! to call their attention to it.
They were screaming when they saw the snake, not realizing that it was dead and that we had already slammed the door behind them. We were laughing outside while they were screaming inside. One of the girls had a fear of snakes, which is why she fainted. This was troublesome for us because as soon as they screamed that the girl had fainted, we opened and, with the assistance of our house mistress, we quickly rushed her to the school clinic.
The girl was receiving medical treatment, and we were not aware that she had a sickle cell genotype. When they asked about what might have caused her sudden shock and fainting, one of the sharp mouth ladies came out and told the housemaster and mistress everything that had happened that day. This is when we got into trouble, and the principal was informed immediately.
The issue was made public by the principal on Monday on the assembly ground, listed our names and asked us to step out so that the other students could see us, He called upon our mathematics and chemistry teachers to give us ten strokes of the cane and also requested that our parents attend an urgent meeting at the school to discuss the situation,
When my father came to my school due to an emergency call, he gave me a hot slap for doing that to a fellow student like me and they also paid for the girl's treatment and bought provisions for her, my father did not give me a dime when he was leaving, as a result of this foolish prank, we received severe punishment.
I felt grateful that the girl did not die as a result of this practical joke because I might already be imprisoned.
This is my entry to this week's engagement with the Hiveghana community.
