Every morning while milking our dairy goats, I tune the radio to my favorite Christian radio station, KNWS, Life 101.9. Their motto is "Positive, Uplifting Music" and I love it. If I can't listen to the radio, I listen online at www.life1019.com 

The music is wonderful, and the friendly banter between the morning announcers, Brent and Julia, always brings a smile to my face.

This morning, however, there was no smile. Instead, I had to hold myself up against the wall of the milking parlor, trying to control my laughter as the goats wondered if I'd lost my mind. Here is the story they told that made my day.

Recently, Julia announced she was looking for a rubber arm to frighten her sister on April Fools' Day. She asked listeners to call in if they knew where she could find one.

Julia mentioned several times that for twenty-four years, neither friends nor family or co-workers had been able to trick her on this notorious day. Her poor sister was another story, and Julia was anxious to get her prank in order so she could record her sister's screams, no doubt hoping to share the delightful end-result with her loyal listeners.

As fate would have it, one of the station's long-time listeners, also a friend of the announcers, contacted Julia. He had a rubber arm she could borrow. Because of the distance between their homes, they agreed he would drop the rubber arm at the Cedar Rapids Christian Book Store for Julia to pick up the next day.

Julia felt a little self-conscious about going to the book store to collect the arm, but finally did so after the friend called to say he needed the arm back by Thursday. Julia entered the store and informed the sales attendant of a package waiting for her. 

The attendant couldn't find the package. After searching, she asked Julia what it contained. More than a little embarrassed, Julia said she was picking up a rubber arm. Further searches were futile. It seemed the arm had grown legs and scurried away.

Finally the harried salesgirl went to find her manager. When the manager returned, he held an envelope, which he handed to Julia.

Inside the envelope was a single piece of paper, with two words written on it:

                                                                        
                                                           "April Fool"

The un-trickable Julia had indeed been tricked. The entire book store was entertained by her immediate cell-phone call to the 'friend' with the so-called "rubber arm" as she hollered into the receiver and her friend roared with laughter on the other end.

To receive the full side-splitting effect of this April Fool prank, you really had to "be there", or at least hear Julia recounting her experience on the radio this morning. 

Brent asked listeners to call in and "High-Five" him for successfully tricking Julia for April Fool's Day.

I was setting up the automatic milkers in the parlor and didn't have time to wait to talk to him on the air. Instead, I wiped the tears from my eyes and called the station's voicemail line. I left a message for Brent, promising him that I would go one step further, and write about this wonderful gag so that even more people could hear about Julia's fun day. 

I try to be a woman of my word, so here it is - Julia's Story.

 
In the hope of being able to double-check my "facts" for this article, I typed the words "Rubber Arm" in the KNWS Life 101.9's Search button.

These words flashed on my screen:

Your search for "rubber" AND "arm" has returned 0 result(s)

Now I'm just like you, Julia!