DANIEL ASA ROSE
569
"Don't you even want me to get dressed?" cried Ricky, vexed
a t every turn.
''I'm only going to say it two more times," warned Roy
quietly.
"Alright, I'm going," Ricky sighed.
"Apologize. "
Ricky opened the door to th e house.
"Apologize!" Roy burst to his feet.
Ricky let go of the door and watched it pump shut. With his
head down and his hands in the pockets of his bathrobe, he
shuffled back to his podium. ''I'm sorry I told everyone that you
were an old drunk, Daddy," he sniffed.
But that 's what his daddy was turning into.
25. Roy was turning into an old drunk?
So I have said.
With all due respect I must warn you not to waste ques tions.
26. Don't I get as many questions as I like?
This may come as a surprise. You get fifty ques tions
altogether. Theoretically, we could go on and on, but fifty
should give you an ample chance to get the compl ete story
provided you don't waste any more of them.
27. How did I know to ask the first question about something
called an elk tree and someone named Roy?
That question was given to you free, compliments of the
house. Since then you ' ve been on your own-and done magnifi–
cently.
28. Was the way in which Roy and Rita m et propheti c?
The way every husband and wife meet is prophetic.
Roy and Rita met through a fun-loving, warm-hearted
anatomy professor named Professor Abel. Roy took Professor
Abel's introductory course as a requirement for freshmen. It met
at eight a.m. One day Roy came to class with a h angover.
Professor Abel asked Roy to stand and to recite all the bones in a
human being's lower body. Roy included the penis. The pro–
fessor thought this was hilarious and he went out of his way to
befriend Roy. Six years later Rita, a coed without a hangover,
made the same error. The professor couldn't get over it. He