Puzzler of the week

[Scott MacLean]

This week's puzzler:

A boy takes the bus downtown and goes to the sporting goods store and buys himself a fishing rod.

Soon after that, he's standing at the bus stop. The bus comes. He gets on, and the bus driver says, "Sonny, where are you going with that thing?"

The boy says, "I'm going home."

The bus driver says, "Not on this bus you aren't. Don't you know there's a city ordinance that you can't carry anything on the bus if it's longer than four feet?"

The kid says, "But I have to take the bus home because I've got a meeting of the young existentialists this afternoon. If I miss it, they'll kill me.

The bus driver says, "Tough!" and boots the kid off the bus.

The boy goes to the sporting goods store and tries to return the fishing rod. They laugh at him and point to the sign that says, "No return on fishing rods over four feet."

The kid stands there in bewilderment, and then he asks the store clerk for something.

Five minutes later he's riding the bus home with the fishing rod.

What did he do?

Last week's puzzler:

An off-duty policeman is working as a night watchman in an office building.

As he's doing his rounds, he comes to a closed door. Behind the door, he hears people talking and an argument seems to be taking place. He hears one of them say, "No, Frank! No! Don't do it, you'll regret it!"

Then, "Bang! Bang! Bang!" He bursts through the door. What does he see? A dead man on the floor.

In the room, are three living people: a minister, a doctor, and a plumber. He walks over to the minister and says, "You're under arrest. You have the right to remain silent..."

Here's the question: How does he know that it was the minister that pulled the trigger?

Last week's puzzler answer:

The answer is, only one of them could have been named Frank, because the other two, the plumber and the doctor, were women.