Working Vacations

Remember when I told y’all about Barry in West Texas? He’s the fellow that offers “work vacations” to help make ends meet. He puts advertisements in a few big city newspapers, offering work experience on his farm. He talks it up big, you know— get fit while experiencing nature, that kind of thing, and he gets a lot of suckers. I mean, takers, he gets a lot of takers. Even with the economy like it’s been, he’s had plenty of folks willing to pay him to let them work. Nice gig if you can get it going!

One summer a cocky little fellow named Norman showed up. Barry planned to let Norman ease into things but, no, Norm was impatient. He wanted to get right to some real farm work.

“Well,” Barry said. “I was gonna milk the cows tomorrow morning. You’re welcome to join me.”

The next morning Norm, decided he didn’t need to wait for instructions. While Barry was talking to some of the farmhands about a fence that needed repairing, Norm snuck off to the barn, got a bucket and a stool off the wall, and set out to milk himself a cow. Problem is, he settled down next to Widow Maker Wannabee —Barry’s prize bull. I’ll spare you the details, but the guy ended up in the hospital and to add insult to injury, he found out his insurance wasn’t gonna pay.

Once he was released from the hospital, he called the insurance company on his smart phone while sitting on Barry’s front porch. Everyone within a country mile could hear him blessing out the entire agency. He kept right on fussing after he hung up.

“Can you believe that?” he asked Barry. “They dismissed my claim!”
Barry shrugged.
“What does that mean?” the city fellow asked.
“Well,” Barry said reluctantly, “you did tell ‘em you tried to milk a bull, son. That’s pretty much admitting that you’re an idiot. I reckon they considered it a pre-existing condition.”

Hugs, Shellie