Bill F. from Exeter, N.H., received Live Free and Eat Pie for Christmas. He writes that he found the book engaging. He says: “I read far into the night so I could find out who did it.”
Bill wrote a newspaper column for many years and says he picked up a lot of Yankee humor along the way that he included in the column. That’s the idea – hear a story and pass it on. From Jud Hale of Yankee magazine, he heard this bit of philosophy: “If you don’t attend someone’s funeral, how do you expect them to come to yours?”
I heard the story this way: Mabel says to Dorothy, “Are you going to Henrietta’s funeral?”
“Course not,” Dorothy replies. “She wouldn’t come to mine.”
Not long ago, someone who hired me to tell stories asked that I not tell any morbid ones. Evidently some in the group were already depressed enough. As I planned my program, it struck me that most of my stories were morbid in one way or another. That simple and understandable request cut into my repertoire considerable. Morbid stories walk that fine line of humor: Should I laugh or cry? I recommend laughter.
True story: A woman called town hall wondering what the procedure was for purchasing a cemetery plot. “Well, I can tell you this,” the clerk said. “You can’t just come in cold.”
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