A tourist walks into a curio shop in
San Francisco. Looking around at the exotica, he notices a very
lifelike life-sized bronze statue of a rat. It has no price tag,
but is so striking he decides he must have it.
He takes it to the owner: "How much for the bronze rat?"
"$12 for the rat, $100 for the story," says the owner.
The tourist gives the man$12. "I'll just take the rat, you
can keep the story."
As he walks down the street carrying his bronze rat, he notices
that a few real rats have crawled out of the alleys and sewers and
begun following him down the street. This is disconcerting, and he
begins walking faster. But with in a couple of blocks, the herd of
rats behind him has grown to hundreds, and they begin squealing.
He begins to trot toward the Bay, looking around to see that the
rats now number in the MILLIONS, and are squealing and coming
toward him faster and faster.
Concerned, even scared, he runs to
the edge of the Bay, and throws the bronze rat as far out into the
water as he can. Amazingly, the millions of rats all jump into the
Bay after it, and are all drowned.
The man walks back to the curio shop. "Ah-ha!" says the
owner, "you have come back for the story?"
"No," says the man, "I came back to see if you have
a bronze Democrat."Â
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