I have never been a real big one on pulling pranks on people but there is one prank that I pulled off in college that really stands out.

Toward the end of our freshman year, everyone had to take and pass an "English Proficiency Test". I don't recall now what it meant if you didn't pass it but it wasn't pretty; you really did not want to fail this test.

I had a friend who was extremely nervous about taking this test. Now, you have to realize, this friend was a very "self-pressurized" individual -- to the point of where she would work herself into a twisted knot of worried frenzy over just about anything.

We took the test and, about a week later, still had not learned the results, adding greatly to her consternation. Now, she was a pretty smart girl, having graduated near the top of her high school class. I knew in my mind that there was no way she could have failed this test. So, the wheels started turning on this prank ...

I sent her a falsified letter supposedly from the head of the English department (I think his name was Pasqualini or something) that told her she'd failed the test ... and outlined some horribly painful process for paying her penance to society if she was going to continue her time at college. It was a very mean thing to do. I knew that. But I laughed the entire time I did it.

The letter looked very official. I sent it to her through campus mail so she had no idea who it really came from. And I waited.

Campus mail was pretty efficient, I soon discovered. I dropped the letter in the slot in the afternoon and, when I went to the student union that evening for dinner, there she was, wailing in front of the mailboxes. I don't just mean sadness or despair ... I mean truly wailing.

I had a choice to make ... tell her the truth and risk bodily harm ... or let her continue to wail and pretend I knew nothing ...

wondering what i did?

I fessed up ... and was beaten about my head and neck ... once I got her to understand amidst all the wailing what I was trying to tell her.

It was, overall, a pretty extravagant prank ... the likes of which I never again felt compelled to pull off ... but watch out ... I think that I could pull something off like this again a time or two in my life ... if I really want to!