It was
Rocky’s first night in the
penitentiary. All of the inmates were in
their cells and he was trying to
become a bit more comfortable with his
meager surroundings. As he
leaned against the bars at the front of his
cell, Rocky heard a voice
call out „44“ and the whole cell block
erupted
into laughter!
Another voice called „16“ and again there was
laughter. A
third
voice called „62“ which was followed by laughter throughout the
block.
Rocky didn’t know what was going on so he rapped on his cell
wall.
„Yeah, whaddaya want?“ came the gruff reply from next
door.
„What’s going on, here?“ asked Rocky.
„Well,“ said the
other inmate, „down in the prison library there’s
only one
joke
book. We’ve all read the book so many times that we don’t waste
time
telling the joke, we just call out it’s number.“
So the
next day Rocky went down to the library and, sure enough, found
r
the
yellowed, dog-eared joke book and read it from cover to
cover. That
night,
wanting to be part of the group, Rocky
confidently called out „44“
and
everyone laughed! He tried calling „16“
and „62“ and again there
were peals
of laughter. Then he called
57, and the halls rang with laughter.
After several minutes, one
prisoner was still rolling on the floor
laughing.
More minutes –
still laughing. Rocky rapped on the cell wall. „Yeah,
waddaya want?“
asked the other inmate.
„I don’t understand it,“ asked Rocky,
„Why is Bill still
laughing?“
„Well,“ said the gruff inmate,
„He never heard that one
before!“
