The Joke
The boy and the girl, both hopelessly in love, devised the plan one night in a haze. Laughing, they went over the details of how they would prank park visitors that summer. "Will we make containers for the hoses, and fasten them under the signs?" or "Should we tell them to put the hose in the front window, or the rear? Passenger or driver side?" Giggling over the apparent ease of everything, the overwhelming sensation of everything falling into place, they fell asleep.
Everything was nearly finished. The stickers carefully matched the brown of national park signs, the containers and hoses were mostly complete, and all that was left to do was take the long journey across the country.
"Skid plate? Who needs that?" The boy said, tossing it aside. The car was also long overdue for an oil change. And one of the cylinders was probably misfiring. Loaded and sagging with camp gear and supplies, the car puttered off to the great salt plains.
The wretched stench of fish and foul water bounced on the rocks lining the lake. The boy and the girl set up camp, ate, and went to bed. And early in the morning they fastened the containers with hose clamps and applied stickers over the signs. Then they were off to the next destination.
Across Colorado and Wyoming and Oregon they traveled, and down through California and into Utah. They stayed in as many parks as possible.
They arrived in Moab. And slept in the car. And early in the morning they put up the stickers and the containers in arches. But this time instead of leaving, they climbed on top a tall rock in view of the road. And sat there on a picnic blanket with cheese and salami, and grapes and apples, and a pair of binoculars, and watched the tourists drive by. Most of them read the signs, and got a hose from the designated container. And they followed the instructions and used the hose to connect the exhaust to the front window.
Looking far down the long line of cars, more and more people stopped or bumped into one another. Horns blared like a cacophonous symphony. The signs told them that their exhaust gases were deteriorating the rock. And they should hold them in.
And the boy and the girl watched from above, laughing at their joke on the country. The campaign was far more successful than they had ever imagined.
Soon there would be no shortage of camping spots, and they would never have to sleep in the car again.
Credited to kbanbury
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