A Southern boy graduates from high school heads north to college, taking the
family dog, Old Blue with him, for company. He's only been there a few weeks
when he gets a call from his girlfriend; seems like they've got a problem,
and she needs a thousand dollars to take care of it. The boy calls his folks:
"How are you?" they ask.
"Oh, I'm fine," he says.
"And how," they ask, "is Old Blue?"
"Well, he's kind of depressed. You see, there's this lady up here
that teaches dogs to talk, and Ol' Blue is feelin' kind of left out 'cause
he's the only dog that doesn't know how to talk. She charges a thousand
dollars."
The parents send the boy the thousand dollars, he forwards it to Mary
Lou, and everything's fine until Christmas vacation. The boy leaves Ol' Blue
at his dorm, 'cause he just can't figure out what to tell his parents. Sure
enough, when he gets home, the first thing his father wants to know is
"Where's Old Blue?"
"Well, Pa," says the boy. "I was driving on home and Old Blue was
talking away about this and that when we passed the Buford's farm. Old Blue,
well, he said, `Say, what do you think your mother would do if I told her
that your father's been comin' over here and seeing Mrs. Buford all these
years?'"
The father looks at his son -- "You shot that dog, didn't you, boy?"
