The Rooster in the Tree

Overhearing a part of a conversation occurring at Margarita Monday about a time when someone saw a rooster in a tree in Florida a couple of months ago, Lisa misunderstands and asks if there is really a rooster in the tree a few feet away. Never missing an opportunity to play a joke and test one's gullibility, Michael Michael lies by responding affirmatively.

"There is not! Where is it?" Lisa asks.
"Right there," Michael says, pointing toward nothing in the tree.
"Where?"
"There!"
"I don't see it!" Lisa says, frustrated, continuing to look in vain for a rooster in the tree.

Michael keeps point as other people start to laugh, so I can tell Lisa is about to give up and recognize the joke. Having a pretty honest reputation and not wanting to see the fun end, I jump in.

"It's right there, Lisa," I say with a gesture.
"Where, though?!"
Knowing this might be the best possible time to get revenge for the time Lisa sassed me for not being able to locate something, I threw her own infamous retort back at her: "Right there o'clock!"

Again, sensing that Lisa was about to give up, I decide to up the ante by standing immediately behind her and positioning her head to view a specific point. Naturally, she still can't see it, but I am being so adamant about it at this point, I restore her belief.

Realizing I have reeled her back in, I opt to escalate the prank a little bit further.

"Maybe we just need to make it move and then you'll see it," I say. "Here, grab some chips and throw them up there."

I lead by example, tossing a few chips up into the tree. Amazingly, Lisa follows suit, grabbing a handful of tortilla chips and hurling them upwards. By the time I go back to the table to grab a few pieces of silverware to encourage her to throw at the tree as well, the jig is up. So many of our friends are cracking up that Lisa realizes how ridiculous she looks and that the rooster is nothing more than an increasingly elaborate practical joke.

As Lisa attempts to justify why throwing tortilla chips at a tree seemed like a plausible action, Lindsay comes to her defense: "Don't you remember the old wives' tale? When you throw a chip at a tree, a rooster appears."

I must have missed that one, but that is so real.