SAVE ME!

From

(Da ta DUM!)

Abby's

JOKES! Ahhhhhhhh!

They are soooooooo BAD, it's unbelievable. Milk curdles when she tells a joke. Ice melts, lightning freezes, and Vieux Boulogne cheese actually farts.

Poor kid has no clue that her jokes don't make sense or are so terrible a stab at funny that funny actually dies. Her punchlines don't fall flat, they fall off cliffs. But the twinkle in her eyes, when she waits for you to laugh, is unbearable. Her face remains frozen in anticipation of your laugh. You are forced to laugh. You have to laugh so that your silence doesn't crush her little heart. Poor kid.

And poor us! Our forced, fake laughs only encourage her to tell more and more. When she says, "Do you want to hear a joke?" our faces cringe, our hearts drop, and one finger pops up. "Okay," we say with resignation. "But only ONE! joke." Faintly we can hear Grammy, from two towns away, scream "NOOOOOO!!! NOT AN ABBY JOKE!"

Abby grins and opens her mouth to start the joke.

And the world shudders...