I'm playing The Game of Life with Eunjoo and Lisa. I get an action card that challenges me to tell a joke to make the other players laugh. If they do I get money from the bank.
I don't know any jokes. I've read some recently, and when I did, I remember thinking I should remember them for the next time I play the Game of Life, or for class. But I didn't remember them. The only jokes I can remember are from an Elephant Joke book I had when I was seven. "Why do Elephants have wrinkly knees?" – "From playing marbles." But my elephant jokes have never worked.
I'm about to give up, but then I do remember there was this clever joke about getting down from a duck. It must have been from a Duck Joke book.
"How do you get down from a duck?" I ask.
Lisa doesn't answer.
"No wait." I say. I think that that is the punch line. "How do yo.."
Geese have down right? That must be it.
"How do you get down from a Goose?" I correct.
Lisa and Eunjoo just look at me.
"You don't, you get down from a duck!" I blurt in laughter.
They are confused. "No," I correct, thinking the down is from the goose, "The other way around."
Is it? I think they both have down, ducks and geese. But, really, what is the joke. I'm like a student trying to remember a proof rather than to think through it. Reset. What is the joke? Oh, yeah, the down from the duck is only the punch-line. The setup is some animal without down. An animal you can ride.
"How do you get down from a dog?"
Eunjoo is shaking her head.
"Oh, wait," I laugh at the absurd difficulty I am having telling a child's joke, "You can't even ride a dog."
Lisa has started to roll for her turn.
"How do you get down from a horse?!?!" Barely a pause: "You don't, you get down from a duck!"
I'm laughing, but Eunjoo and Lisa don't get it. They don't know what down is. The joke doesn't translate. Mostly my jokes are for me anyways.
"Do I get the money if I make myself laugh?"
"No. You always laugh at your jokes. I has to be funny to anyone else."
"Maybe you should have to pay the bank some money, Daddy."
