My brother, always the practical joker, constructed a practical joke
in the bedroom that we shared with Rob that drove me crazy for years.
He had artfully super-glued a stack of coins to the top of the
dresser in such a way that made them look to all the coin gathering
world like they had been tossed there carelessly. A couple of times
a week for years either Rob or I would glance over, see a pile of
likely looking coins and make a grab for them only to remember, too
late, that they were a prop. We would curse and move on and promptly
forget that it was a set up and repeat the process in a few days. I
don't know why the urge to collect coins was such an overwhelming
drive in my subconscious that I couldn't just leave them alone but I
could not. One day though my little sister fixed us up and cured the
joke with a little unfettered greed, some free time and some elbow
grease. One day she had had enough and pried the coins up off of the
dresser and separated them and spent them. That is some hard earned
money that I remember my brother being really mad about her stealing.
She also left a odd shaped scar in the plywood top of the dresser
where she cleaned up the joke. I believe my mom still had that
dresser today and it still has an ex-joke mark right in the lid.
