Horace de Vere Cole was an Irish poet born in 1881 who seemed to spend as much time creating pranks as he did poems. (You can read more about Cole on page 167.) In one of his pranks, Cole pretended to be a surveyor—a person who measures land in preparation for building. In those days, surveyors used string to take measurements. Cole would ask a passing stranger to help him out by holding one end of the string. Then he would go around the corner and ask another stranger to hold the other end of the string. At this point Cole would depart, leaving the two men holding the string. In this prank you walk away leaving your victim in a similarly silly situation.
what you need
* Two rimless plastic cups
* Water
what you do
THE SETUP
1 Fill each cup about halfway with water.
PULL THE PRANK
1 Walk up to your victim carrying the two cups of water. This prank works best indoors so that your victim won’t just dump the water on the ground. Explain that you want to see if you can balance two cups of water on your hands and you need some help.
2 Give your victim the cups of water and hold your hands out in front of you, palms down. Ask your friend to balance one cup on each of your hands. This might take a little while. You will have to work together to find the best place to put the cups, but don’t give up. It’s definitely possible.
3 Once both cups are balanced, say, “Awesome!” and ask your friend to remove them. Then say, “Now, let’s see if you can do it.”
4 Repeat the process, this time balancing the cups on your friend’s hands. Remember, his palms must be facing down. When the cups are perfectly balanced, walk away. You can pretend you have to go check on something or just leave without saying a thing. Your friend is left standing there, with no way to remove the cups from his hands without dumping the water.