The fact that Easter and April Fool's Day happened to be the same day proved to the biggest joke to some people, simply for the fact that Easter was to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and the salvation of sins while April Fool's Day had become a holiday to celebrate pranks and other assorted mischief. And for Mary Alice Wesley, more affectionately known as Malice, the mischief and fun associated with April Fool's Day was something she liked. She liked pulling pranks, and in the end if they could prank her back, she liked that too if it was well done. She'd had fun with it the previous year, even if it went a bit overboard.
Thus, Malice was looking forward to April Fool's Day again, even with the oddness of April Fools Day and Easter Sunday being the same day. It was odd and funny in its own way, but that only intrigued Malice more, and lead to a question how the two days could coincide. Granted the "social" at church after the Easter sermon wasn't the expected place for that question.
"You don't know how it came about?" the minister raised an eyebrow as he looked to Malice and then to Thomas and Julia Wesley and finally to Sarah. They all shrugged.
"I mean they're very different days," Malice tried to explain, "Yet... I think I saw some where that one follows some sort of astrological thingy while the other is limited to the first day of April, and the only thing that would change with its day of the week is related to the calendar as the Earth goes around the sun and so on... But wouldn't that mean that the two days being on the same day be rare?"
"It does," the minister nodded, "but that doesn't mean it can't happen. After all, improbable doesn't mean impossible."
Malice tilted her head and then looked back to her parents, still a bit lost.
"Improbable means something isn't likely to happen," Julia explained bouncing Belle in her harms while Thomas did the same with Bash, "Impossible means something can't happen at all."
"And it just so happens that Easter Sunday just happened to fall on April Fool's Day," the minister gave a small grin, "Meaning you'll have to be perfectly behaved with no pranks."
"Really?" Malice gave a whimper.
"It's in the Bible," the minister winked to Thomas and Julia.
Malice and Sarah both noticed, but Malice was a bit downcast at the moment and didn't fully catch on. All her ideas for fun and games would have to go by the wayside because it also happened to be Easter. In this, Malice did fail to notice the small smiles forming on her sister and parent's muzzles.
"It is?" Malice asked as she looked up to the minister.
"Yes," the minister nodded, "In the Book of Gotcha Chapter 1 Verse 3 and God said, "April Fools shall fall on Easter Sunday to spoil all prankster's plans."
Malice watched as the minister's face pulled into a toothy grin as he said the line, having a hard time hiding his own amusement. It was in that moment that Malice realized that the minister was pranking her! That soon set her tail to wagging.
"It doesn't say that," Malice argued.
"Oh it does," the minister nodded and placed a hand on Malice's shoulder and leaned over to whisper in her ear, "but thankfully that Book was never Canonized, so officially, so long as you don't put any malevolence into your fun and games you'll be fine."
Malice happily wagged her tail at that, which soon earned some happy yips from Belle and Bash as they responded to their older sister's mood.
"You like April Fools Day, I take it?" the minister asked after a moment.
"I like it, yes," Malice said with a nod.
"Like it? You love it, with all the pranks you pulled last year at Spring Break," Sarah commented.
"You guys did get me back, and you know it," Malice answered.
"True," Sarah nodded.
"Do we WANT to know?" Thomas asked to his elder daughters, Malice might be more of an adopted daughter thanks to her uplifting, but she was still part of the family where it counted.
"So long as no one was physically hurt and there was no intention of doing physical or emotional harm, a little fun is harmless," the minister spoke in a calming tone, "there are many times when I feel the world could use a good sense of humor. In that way... one could say that April Fool's Day all fits in to the grand plan."
Thomas and Julia traded glances but went along with it. They soon followed the Minister as he lead them out of the sanctuary and into the entryway to the church. There they soon got the second divine joke of the day. While the doors were shut, there were clear glass windows in them and a floor to ceiling window on either side of the doors, and through those windows they could see the falling of snow. And despite it being officially "spring," the snow was already starting to accumulate in places.
"My wife is never going to get her garden flowers going like this," the minister gave a heavy sigh.
"Spring will have to come eventually, right?" Sarah asked.
"Of course," the minister nodded with a weak smile, "I suppose I'm just ready for it to be here, that's all."