Wednesday, June 25, 2008

There’s an old joke that most of us baby boomers first heard when we were kids. Here’s the version I remember hearing in New Jersey:

A man goes on vacation and his brother agrees to housesit for him — feeding the cat, picking up the newspapers and mail, watering the plants, etc. After the first week goes by the vacationing brother phones to check in.

“I’m sorry bro,” his brother at the house tells him almost immediately, “but your cat died.”

“What!? What do you mean my cat died?! How could you tell me like this? What kind of insensitive creep are you!? You need to prepare someone for a shock like that!” exclaims the vacationing brother.

“How was I supposed to prepare you?” asks the man.

“Well,” says the brother, “first you should have told me, the cat is on the roof. Then you should have said, but don’t worry, we’re calling the fire department. Then the next time I called in to check you should have said, the fire department was doing everything it could and not to worry.

Then the next time I called you could tell me that the cat had fallen, but not to worry — the vet was doing everything she could to resuscitate him. Then, finally, after all that, you could have told me, my cat had died. That’s how you break news like that.”

“You’re right, bro, I’m sorry. I should have been more sensitive first,” said the housesitting brother, who really did feel bad about it at this point.

His vacationing brother on the phone was quickly forgiving, “That’s okay. I understand. So anyway, how’s everything else? How’s mom doing?”

“Mom?” says the man, “Mom is on the roof….”

Guess what? Right now, here in 2008 the cat is on the roof for global warming.

Continue reading ➞ Hot Tub Time Machine WayBack Wednesday – Reposted Word-for-Word from June 25 of 2008