A browse thru

A browse thru other blogs suggests I perhaps was coughing during the part about "play". So here's a joke:

Once there was a magician on a cruise ship. He had a regular spot on the ship's cabaret evening entertainment. He was quite a good magician, but everytime he did a trick, his parrot would ruin it but squawking out the secret. For example, he'd do a card trick and the parrot would say:

"IT'S UP HIS SLEEVE, IT'S UP HIS SLEEVE!"

or he'd pretend to saw Julie the Cruise Director in half and the parrot would say
"THERE'S A FALSE BOTTOM IN THE BOX, THERE'S A FALSE BOTTOM IN THE BOX,"
and so on.

Finally the magician told the parrot, "Look here parrot, you are ruining the act! If you don't shut your mouth I'm going to have to wring your parrot neck."

By coincedence, that very evening, right at the climax of his act, just as he was about to disappear in a puff of smoke (and the parrot was about to say "THERE'S A TRAP DOOR, THERE'S A TRAP DOOR"), just at that very moment, disaster struck. The ship hit an iceberg and sank in seconds.

Amazingly, the magician and the parrot were the only two survivors. The magician was lying on a piece of driftwood in a daze. As he opened his eyes he could see the parrot staring at him out of its beady little eye.

The parrot sat there for hours just staring at him and eventually said, "OK, I GIVE UP, I GIVE UP! WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THE SHIP?"

And this is why my blog has only so much room for play...