The girl with the blonde hair meets the man in the green suit

Hands-down, the most gullible person I've ever known was my high-school friend Annemarie, who may be singlehandedly responsible for the boom in "ditzy blonde" jokes during the '90s. We worked together at the grocery store near the school, and every day, she'd start work before me, and every day, I'd sneak up behind her and startle her while she was bent over the deli displays, arranging cheese. And although I deadpanned my way into having her believe all kinds of outrageous whoppers, it's a time when my friend Barry duped her that I remember best.

The two of them were looking out the window during a physics class when Annemarie noticed a man walking by below. "Why is that man wearing a green suit?" she wondered.

Barry turned to her with a serious look on his face. "You mean you don't know? It's because he has cancer," he said in a solemn voice.

"Oh my god! Really?" Annemarie asked.

Barry nodded. "The green suit protects him from the sun's rays so his cancer doesn't get any worse."

"Oh my god!" Annemarie said.

Barry never bothered setting her straight. A few months after that, my dad got cancer, and although it was a serious matter, when I gave the news to Annemarie, I did get a small amount of private amusement by slipping in the detail that he'd had to buy a new green suit as part of his treatment.