The lawyer thinks for a moment and says: “First, did your research show that my mother is dying after a long, painful illness and has huge medical bills far beyond her ability to pay?”

Embarrassed, the United Way rep mumbles, “Uh, no.”

“Secondly, that my brother, a disabled veteran, is blind and confined to a wheelchair and is unable to support his wife and six children?”

The stricken United Way rep begins to stammer an apology but is cut off.

“Thirdly, that my sister’s husband died in a dreadful traffic accident”, the lawyers voice rising in indignation, “leaving her penniless with a mortgage and three children?”

The humiliated United Way rep, completely beaten, says simply, “I had no idea.”

The lawyer then says”…and if I don’t give any money to THEM, why should I give any to you?”

The first lawyer immediately opened his briefcase, pulling out a pair of sneakers, and started putting them on.The second lawyer looked at him and said, “You’re crazy! You’ll never be able to outrun that bear!”

“Oh, I know that. Bears are much faster than humans. I have no hope of ever being able to outrun a bear.”

“If you know that, why are you changing shoes?”

“Well, the way I figure it,” the first lawyer replied, “I don’t have to outrun the bear. I only have to outrun you.”

The man was pleased to learn that he could acquire the rat for only $5, and he handed the shopkeeper the money. But, before giving the man the rat, the shopkeeper sternly warned him, “This sale is final. If you leave the shop with the brass rat, I won’t take it back under any circumstances.”

The man thought the warning was curious, given that the rat only cost $5. Even if he decided he hated the rat, that was hardly an amount worth worrying about. He agreed to the shopkeeper’s terms, and left with the rat.

At first, everything seemed perfectly normal. But, as he walked back toward his car, the man started to hear strange rustling noises around him. Then he saw a life rat scurry out of an alley, and start to follow him. Suddenly, rats seemed to be appearing all around him, streaming out of sewers and dumpsters, all following him and milling about his feet.

The man began to run, but the rats kept up in increasing numbers. The man realized that he was being chased by literally tens of thousands of rats. The ground came alive, as the rats swarmed behind him.

The man suddenly realized the significance of the shopkeeper’s warning, and knew what he had to do. He turned toward the bay, and ran as quickly as he could toward the water. When he reached the waterfront, he threw the brass rat as far as he could into the bay. The rats raced past him, following the rat into the water, where they drowned.

The man returned to the curio shop, and upon seeing him enter the shopkeeper shouted, “I told you, no refunds. I don’t want trouble here. The sale was final, and you can’t return the merchandise.”

The man smiled, and replied, “Oh, I don’t want to return the rat. I just want to know — do you have a brass lawyer in stock?”

An aide eventually agreed to wake up the governor.

‘So, what is it?’ grumbled the governor.

‘Judge Garber has just died!’ said the attorney, ‘and I want to take his place!’

The governor replied; ‘Well it’s OK with me if it’s OK with the undertaker.’

“Well, Husband #1 was a sales representative; he kept telling me how great it was going to be.

Husband #2 was in software services; he was never really sure how it was supposed to function, but he said he’d look into it and get back to me.

Husband #3 was from field services; he said everything checked out diagnostically but he just couldn’t get the system up.

Husband #4 was in telemarketing; even though he knew he had the order, he didn’t know when he would be able to deliver.

Husband #5 was an engineer; he understood the basic process but wanted three years to research, implement, and design a new state-of-the-art method.

Husband #6 was from finance and administration; he thought he knew how, but he wasn’t sure whether it was his job or not.

Husband #7 was in marketing; although he had a nice product, he was never sure how to position it.

Husband #8 was a psychologist; all he ever did was talk about it.

Husband #9 was a gynecologist; all he did was look at it.

Husband #10 was a stamp collector; all he ever did was… God! I miss him! But now that I’ve married you, I’m really excited!”

“Good,” said the new husband, “but, why?”

“You’re a lawyer. This time I know I’m gonna get screwed!”

The inscriber insisted that such an inscription would be confusing, for any passer-by would tend to think that three men were buried under the stone.

However he suggested an alternative: He would inscribe, ‘Here lies a man who was both honest and a lawyer.

‘That way, whenever anyone walked by the tombstone and read it, they would be certain to remark: ‘That’s Strange!’

About five minutes later, it happened again. The front tiger turned, growling, “I said stop it.” The rear tiger again apologized, and they continued.

Another five minutes passed, and again the front tiger felt the unwanted tongue. The front tiger turned, giving the rear tiger a ferocious glare, angrily hissing, “What is it with you?”

The rear tiger replied, “I’m sorry — I really didn’t mean to offend you. But I just ate a lawyer and I’m trying to get the taste out of my mouth!”

“If you’re not rally in bad trouble, I’ll take the case,” said Gregory. “If you’re in a real jam and want to get out of it, my partner will handle it.

If, on the other hand, you’re not involved and want to get in trouble, my on, who just graduated from law school, will take it!”

“Your mother insulted me,” she sobbed.

“My mother? How could she do that when she is on vacation on the other side of the world?” the man asked.

“I know. But this morning a letter addressed to you arrived. I opened it because I was curious.”

“And?”

“At the end of the letter it was written:

PS. Dear Diane, when you have finished reading this letter, don’t forget to give it to my son.”