ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 2, 1997 TAG: 9704020036
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: LISA GARCIA THE ROANOKE TIMES
Dick Horne spent much of Tuesday fielding calls at his funeral home from hapless April Fool's victims, but he couldn't complain - he used to pull the same prank when he was in high school.
The most requested dead woman - by phone - on Tuesday was Myra Mains.
Her address, although she's probably not aware of it, was the Richardson-Horne Funeral Home on North Franklin Street. And probably several other funeral homes around the nation.
If you haven't gotten it yet, consider the fact that Tuesday was April Fool's Day.
Dick Horne, owner-operator of the funeral home, said he and other employees field calls every year for Myra Mains (pronounced "my remains"). ("Ahhhh, I get it," some of you might be saying to yourselves.)
The scenario goes like this: Unwitting "fool" returns to desk after lunch and finds a note from an office prankster saying, "Please return phone call to Myra Mains at ... ." The unsuspecting caller dials the number, which just happens to be the local funeral home.
"I tell them this is the funeral home, stop and think about what you said and then they usually catch on," Horne said. "Then there are some that don't catch on at all."
Horne said he literally has to walk some callers through the joke to help them figure out they have been snookered.
The gag has been around probably for decades, long before Bart and Lisa Simpson embarrassed Homer's favorite bartender with such jabs. Even Horne, who grew up in the funeral business, admitted pulling the prank on friends during his high school years.
Horne said the other favorite prank, mingled with the calls for Myra Mains, is folks calling about a message that a box had been left there for them to pick up. Horne said the callers who don't figure that one out follow up with questions like "What's in the box? Who left it there?"
"Every now and then you hear someone cursing a person in the background before they hang up, but they're always polite to us," Horne said with his own chuckle.
LENGTH: Short : 47 linesby CNB