Date: Mon, 30 Dec 1996 00:18:20 -0500 (EST)
From: Tintanoche
Subject: BLAGUES-L: Babies
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 09:15:01 -0400 (EDT)
From: Philippe Reid
From lmccgir Wed Sep 25 13:13:39 1996
The British Government's policy of socialized medicine has recently been
broadened to include aservice called "Proxy Fathers". Under the govern-
ment plan, any married woman who is unable to become pregnant through the
first five years of her marriage may request the service of a proxy
father; agovernment employee who attempts to solve the couple's problem
by impregnating the wife.
The Smiths, a young couple, have no children and a proxy father is due to
arrive. Leaving for work, Mr. Smith says, "I'm off. The government man
should be here soon."
Moments later a door-to-door baby photographer rings the
bell................
Ms Smith: "Good morning."
Salesman: "Good morning, madam. You don't know me, but I've come
to....."
Ms Smith: "No need to explain, I've been expecting you.
Salesman: "Really? Well, good. I've made a specialty of babies,
especially twins."
Ms Smith: "That's what my husband and I had hoped. Please come in
and have a seat."
Salesman: (Sitting) "Then you don't need to be sold on the idea?"
Ms Smith: "Don't concern yourself. My husband and I both agree this
is the right thing to do."
Salesman: "Well, perhaps we should get down to it."
Ms Smith: (Blushing) "Just where do we start?"
Salesman: "Leave everything to me. I usually try two in the bathtub,
one on the couch and perhaps a couple on the bed. Sometimes the living
room floor allows the subject to really spread out.
Ms Smith: "Bathtub, living room floor? No wonder it hasn't worked
for Harry and me."
Salesman: "Well, madam, none of us can guarantee a good one every
time, but if we try several locations and I shoot from six or seven
angles, I'm sure you'll be pleased with the results.
In fact, my business card says, 'I aim to please.'"
Ms Smith: "Pardon me, but isn't this a little informal?"
Salesman: "Madam, in my line of work, a man must be at ease and take
his time. I'd love to be in and out in five minutes,but you'd be
disappointed with that."
Ms Smith: "Don't I know! Have you had much success at this?"
Salesman: (Opening his briefcase and finding baby pictures) "Just
look at this picture. Believe it or not, it was doneon top of a bus in
downtown London."
Ms Smith: "Oh, my!!"
Salesman: "And here are pictures of the prettiest twins in town. They
turned out exceptionally well when you consider their mother was so
difficult to work with."
Ms Smith: "She was?"
Salesman: "Yes, I'm afraid so. I finally had to take her down to
Hyde Park to get the job done right. I've never worked under such
impossible conditions. People were crowding around four and
five deep, pushing to get a good look."
Ms Smith: "Four and five deep?"
Salesman: "Yes and for more than three hours, too. The mother got so
excited she started bouncing around, squealing and yelling at the crowd.
I couldn't concentrate. I'm afraid I had to ask a couple of men restrain
her. By that time darkness was approaching and I began to rush my
shots. When the squirrels began nibbling on my equipment I just packed it
all in."
Ms Smith: "You mean they actually chewed on your, eh.., equipment?"
Salesman: "That's right, but it's all in a day's work. I consider my
work a pleasure. I've spent years perfecting mypatented technique. Now
take this baby, I shot this one in the front window of a big department
store."
Ms Smith: "I just can't believe it."
Salesman: "Well, madam, if you're ready, I'll set up my tripod so
that we can get to work."
Ms Smith: "TRIPOD?!?"
Salesman: "Oh yes, I have to use a tripod to rest my equipment on.
It's much too heavy and unwieldy for me to hold while I'm shooting. Ms
Smith?...Ms Smith?...My word, she's fainted!