I’ve never been a fan of tricks. Well, except for trick-or-treating because buckets full of candy? Yes, please. And I guess magic tricks are okay. And so are hat tricks in soccer. Okay, fine, maybe I am a fan of tricks but as with all things context matters.

It’s the tricks that involve deception, delusion, or traps that trip me up. They just make me feel…icky, you know?

100% truth: I despise April Fools Day. Believe me, this is an honest to God P-R-O-B-L-E-M when you’re an elementary school teacher because those littles absolutely live for that one day a year they’re allowed to trick their teachers. And there I was, cringing inwardly, putting on a perky “you’re such a scamp!” voice for the urchins while I counted the minutes until school let out. I don’t exactly know why tricks annoy me so much. I think it has something to do with trust issues and being lied to and feeling betrayed – and yes, I realize how utterly absurd this sounds when we’re talking about jump scares or fake vomit but there it is. Weird but true.

And because I cannot stand being tricked it follows that I absolutely, positively cannot do it to anyone else. It triples the icky factor when I even try so I just don’t. Trick people, that is. I’m perfectly fine with withholding the truth when necessary – not ruining a surprise, timing an important conversation, that sort of thing – but you won’t catch me jumping out at you in the dark.

I beg of you, do me the same favor. As an added incentive you should know my fight or flight mode leans toward fight ever since I took self-defense classes in college. Just saying.

Linda hosts Stream of Consciousness Saturday. This week’s prompt is “trick.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!