“People keep saying that.” He takes a drink. “It’s what I do every day.” For a moment, Travis worries he is putting a damper on things. He doesn’t know why Melissa had come looking for him or why she seems to sympathize but he feels he is disappointing her somehow by not feeling better. “You wanna’ hear a joke?”

“No.”

“There are these two races horses sitting in a bar.” Melissa shifts her posture to appear inattentive, but Travis can see through the gesture and continues undaunted. “The one race horse, Mama’ Good Gravy, turns to the other, Old Magic Hat, and says, ‘You know, the strangest thing happened to me the other day. I was racing and was dead last coming around the last turn, when I suddenly gets this really sharp pain in my ass!” Travis says it loudly, and a few of the bar’s occupants looks in his direction—more out of curiosity than anything. Melissa indicates that she would listen to the joke, but only if he quieted down. He leans in toward her. “So the other horse says, ‘You know, that is strange ’cause the same thing happened to me. I was in a race, and not doin’ so hot, when all of a sudden, right down the last stretch, I get a shooting pain in my ass. Felt like fire or somethin’ and I just bolted ahead of the pack on the outside and won the race.” Raising his eyesborws, Travis around the bar and back to Melissa in conspiracy, as if they are sharing a secret. “So this dog comes up to the two race horses. He says, ‘Say, fella’s, I didn’t mean to be eavesdropping, but I couldn’t help but hear ya’ talkin’. Thing is, same thing happened to me. I was in a race, and I was chasing the little bunny, you know, and fallin’ behind. But just like you’re sayin’ I get this sharp hot pain in my ass, ran like hell, and I couldn’t believe it! I won the race! I even beat the little bunny!’ Well, the dog nods and walks off, and Mama’a Good Gravy turns to Old Magic Hat and says, ‘What the hell was that? A talkin’ dog!'”

Melissa laughs.

“I love that joke,” says Travis, “’cause it just doesn’t go where you’re thinking it’s going to.”

“I was waiting for something about hot dogs.” Melissa chuckles and nods a little embarassed by her admission for some reason. “That is pretty good.” She takes a sip of her drink, and Travis settles down to the table and his own drink again. Looking around the bar for a moment, Melissa looks to the mirror on the other side of the room and catches an instant of emptiness in Travis’s expression as he looks down toward the table. “And you even managed to succesfully change the subject.”

Read the whole thread: Unthreaded

Characters and Places: Jokes, Melissa Keller, Travis Fleeting