Are We Having Fun Yet?

 

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You might not believe this, but someone once told me I needed to lighten up and have more fun. 

Ouch!

    I will bet that Charlie Finley never heard words like those, because he wrote the book on having fun, and he shares his expertise in a compilation of short stories, Are We Having Fun Yet? Needless to say, it's a fun read. Charlie writes mostly about past pranks, the ones he pulled for no other purpose than the partaking of a few laughs and maybe to occasionally make a point.

    In full disclosure, I am not a prank puller, but I delighted in sitting on the sidelines of Charlie's narratives and witnessing his practical jokes. The world needs more fun. It's something we forget to do when the seriousness of life bears down on us.

    I first met Charlie a couple of years ago when he came to my writers' club meeting. He strolled in and sat down inconspicuously. When he had something to say, he stood up and commanded the room like an experienced politician. He weaved wisdom with humor.

    One Saturday morning, I sat down at my dining room table to read Are We Having Fun Yet?, and before long, I smiled. On another occasion, I laughed out loud, as I bounced through Charlie's shenanigans and his camping and canoeing adventures.

    The antics and ploys recounted in Are We Having Fun Yet? are overwhelmingly in the name of wholesome, clean fun, and they are a testament not only to his comedic leanings but to his character as well. In Charlie's tell-all, he reveals the lengths he will travel to ruffle some feathers, or to get someone's goat, so to speak, all for the sake of rousing a few chuckles or belly laughs. But he never risks anyone's safety and well-being, except maybe his own.

    Charlie is not a slacker when setting out to bamboozle, and he never overlooks a detail when orchestrating a prank. He takes it to the next level by creating all the props required for authenticity, like bona fide, fake coupons, and he even seeks assistance from friends who are willing to aid and abet.

    He also primes us on becoming successful pranksters without getting into trouble or suffering repercussions, and he is adamant about making sure that no players end up permanently disabled or psychologically damaged. We see his scruples taking center stage, and we conclude that he is an upstanding individual. After all, how can you not trust someone who quotes his mother?

    When I finished reading the last page, I turned back to check some facts. Did he really run for Senate in Virginia? Yes, he did. Did one of his pranks take a full year to play out? Affirmative. Did he really create a prank involving a toe tag for the deceased? I'm afraid so.

    I noticed that Charlie dedicated the book to his parents. He father was a medical doctor, and Charlie knows a thing or two about medicine as well. He knows that the best medicine is laughter. His stories remind us to lighten up and have more fun -- reliable advice that can facilitate the curing of our ills, or at least make the trouble spots less troublesome.

    Now that I know him better than before, I will be bold and make an assumption: Charlie Finley thrives on humor. Considering how mischievous he is behind a persona of innocence, I am surprised he didn't pull a fast one on me and the writers' club, for I am certain that the wheels of prankishness are always turning in his head.

    Charlie knows how to tell a story, and hopefully, he will write a sequel for his newfound followers, for I suspect that a passle of other exploits are waiting to explode on paper. A good book is one that continues running through a reader's mind long after the last page is read, and Charlie's meets that criterion, for I am still thinking about that incident at Woodstock.

Well, to be truthful, I am trying not to.

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