: RATS!
> A man walks into an antique store and > begins browsing through the merchandise. > A small bronze sculpture of a rat catches > his eye. > For some reason, this curio fascinates > him and he decides that he has to have it, > so he picks it up and walks over to the > proprietor. > "How ! much for this?", he asks. > "I'd think twice about getting that if I > were you. Everyone who's bought it > before has come back the next day to > return it," says the proprietor. > "Why?" > "I don't know, but they seem to be in > an awful hurry to get rid of it." > The customer thinks this over and > finally decides to purchase the item. > He walks out of the store and begins > to make his way home. > As he is walking down a dark alley, > he hears a scuttling noise behind him. > Quickly turning around, he sees two > rats following him down the path. > "That's odd", he thinks to himself and > begins to walk faster. > A few minutes later, he turns around > again and this time there are 3 dozen > rats following him! He begins to break > into a trot. > Next time he turns around, there are > 200 rats! Now he's running as fast! as > he can. After a couple of minutes, he > can't stand the suspense any longer > and looks over his shoulder. Thousands > of rats, as far as the eye can see, are > marching behind him! > Now he begins to panic. He looks at > the figurine in his hand and it dawns on > him what's going on. He changes direction > and begins to make his way to the > waterfront. When he reaches the harbor, > he takes the figure and hurls it into the > water. Thousands of rats dive into the > water after it and drown! > The next day, the man returns to the > antique shop. The owner is shocked to > see him empty-handed. "You didn't > bring it back?" he asks. > "No, I've just one question, Do you > have one which is shaped like a lawyer?" >
