prac·ti·cal joke
/ˈpraktəkəl jōk/
noun
1.a trick played on someone in order to embarrass or amuse.
This practical joke began, as many do, between friends. These friends worked together at the Portland (Maine) Museum of Art, where their friendship grew as they collaborated on projects over the years. These many collaborations lead to long talks of one day writing a historical novel together.
Unfortunately, the book collaboration never happened. Lives (and jobs) change. The perpetrator of our practical joke relocated across country with his family, while our ‘victim’ stayed at the museum and went on to author that ‘perfect story’ the two had talked about for so long.
Our perpetrator was ecstatic for his author friend and decided to write a letter, posing as a 99 year old fan named “R.U. Shore.” When the author replied to “R.U.” a simple joke took on a life of its own as a correspondence began between the two. Over the course of several years, the perpetrator sent his author friend more letters, and eventually started including gifts from “R.U.” as well. Each gift a little more elaborate than the last, and each building the history (and mystery) of “R.U. Shore.” .” But by the end of nine years the author began to worry that the old man was going to die and leave things to him that he did not have the ability or resources to deal with, so he began to distance himself from “R.U.”
Meanwhile, the two friends had kept in close contact with each other over the years, sharing their successes as well as their failures, their joys as well as their sorrows. “R.U.” became a constant subject of discussion, and when the author began to share his worries about the old man passing, the perpetrator knew it was time to bring the practical joke to an end. Enlisting the author’s wife, the perpetrator’s son, a limousine company, and the back room of a fancy Portland restaurant, the perpetrator laid out a plan for the author to finally meet “R.U. Shore” face to face.
Leave a Reply