On Tuesdays, gnomi and I try to meet for lunch in downtown Boston, at the Milk Street Café. Today, she had a lunch meeting and couldn't stay, but we did meet there briefly to pick up food and take it back to our respective offices. (Well, she did. I stayed and ate my lunch there, since it would be faster. Not that this is relevant to today's post.)

So, I'm walking back to the Park Street subway station, following the Freedom Trail and passing the Boston Common, in one of the more historic areas of the city. And I see, as one does in tourist season, tour guides in colonial costume explaining the history of various sites to groups of tourists. And as I approach the subway, I have a thought that is atypical for someone such as myself.

Today is April Fool's Day. What if all the Boston tour guides decided last night to agree on one piece of false history, and to share it, completely deadpan, with today's tourists?

How would the tourists know they were being fooled?

("Yes, over here is the spot where an alien spaceship teleported Ben Franklin into orbit, and then relocated him to Philadelphia. You don't believe me? Ask any of the other tour guides...")

Note to self: never take a tour on April Fool's Day.

Tags: silly