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April 5, 2002 - Who is This Guy? & Gaggle by Charles Farrell
Welcome to 2TheHeart's Funny Friday, to start your weekend off with a chuckle!
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This weeks Funny Quotes:
"The woman's work that is never done is most likely what she asked her husband to do." ~Unknown
"Before I had kids, I went home after work to rest. Now I go to work to rest." ~Simon Ruddell
There are three ways to get something done:
1) Do it yourself.
2) Hire someone to do it.
3) Forbid your kids to do it.
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Many of you have been deeply moved by Charles' stories on 2theheart of being a New York City firefighter. Today I am happy to share with you a lighter side to a firefighter's life.
"Who is This Guy?" and "Gaggle"
by Charles Farrell
If I learned anything from my 23 years as a Ny York City Firefighter, it's, along with our Faith in God, a good sense of humor helps us through hard times. The first story is a sample of what I call firefighters unique childlike humor. The second is just a Gaggle.
A mother asked her child, "What do you want to be when you grow-up"? He replied, "A Fireman". She wisely answered, "You can't do both".
Who is This Guy?
One of the brothers always gave us a laugh when we were down and needed one. How do I explain him? He had different characters that he would roll play. The brothers knew them all and would refer to them by name. There was the French dwarf artist Toulouse Lautrec. At any given time you could hear a loud pounding at the kitchen door.
We opened the door after the consistent pounding only to find this brother with his knees in a pair of shoes that gave the appearance he was about 4 feet tall. He would just stand there - I mean kneel
there, smiling, with a high hat and the cane that he used to pound on the door. One of the brothers would say, with a straight face, "Hey look! Toulouse came to visit." No matter how many times you would see it, you had to laugh.
His most famous and feared character was "The Blind Man." The brothers would be sitting in the kitchen when suddenly the door flung open. There stood the dreaded "Blind Man" He wore dark black glasses and would enter the kitchen swinging this hard wooden cane as wide and as forceful as possible. Anyone or anything got in his path was stuck down. His sudden appearance would cause grown firemen to flee in all directions. He left a path of broken coffee cups.
Gaggle
It is said, that if you try to analyze a funny story, it ceases to be funny. However, I will not let that stop me, from attempting to analyze this once, funny story.
Did you ever experience a true situation, which the mere thought of makes you laugh out loud? It doesn't matter where you are at the time; by yourself; in Church, you cannot stop yourself from laughing. I just know other people have experienced this so I decided to give it a name. A Gaggle is as good as any.
My Gaggle began when the Captain in the firehouse told me to follow O'Donnell to the shops so I could drive him back to the firehouse. O'Donnell's job was to drive the Fire Chief car to the shops to be repaired. The Shock Absorbers were badly in need of repair. O'Donnell told me to stay close and not to lose him, as he did not trust the mechanics of this car.
We were going along fine, except, I noticed the Chief car was slightly jumping up and down. Than we came to our first full stop at a red light. O'Donnell was not driving fast, but that didn't stop the car from violently jumping up and down. With each leap, it seemed to lunge higher and higher. I could see O'Donnell's head striking the inside roof of the car, as it seemed to perpetuate with each lunge. O'Donnell fought to open the door and exit the bouncing vehicle He somehow managed to stumble out of the car.
Now, you may say, What's so funny about this unfortunate incident that could have seriously injured O'Donnell?
When Charlie Chaplain would fall, it was not the fall that was funny, but his reaction to the fall that was funny.
When Chaplain, I mean O'Donnell got out of the car, he looked around, only to find, most people were oblivious to him and his bouncing red car. He repetitively said "What the... Does anyone see this?" The car seemed to bounce forever. That was when my Gaggle set in, and I laughed until my stomach hurt and I was losing my breath.
This Gaggle was born over 35 years ago and still has its effect. It might look strange, to observers, seeing a person laughing all by themselves. Just remember, he or she may be having a Gaggle and look to find your own Gaggle. Every one should have at least one.
Charles Francis Farrell
cfroe56@aol.com
Charles is a retired New York City firefighter and has written several in his series "A Firefighter's Story" for 2theheart. To read these stories and see Charles' beautiful family, visit his stories in our archives. www.2theheart.com/archives
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The Letter Box:
Dear Funny Friday,
Upon receiving the last mailout by Cora Campbell with her "Lessons From Grandpa" story, I was surprised to see a number of similarities between her late Grandpa and my Grampy....
My Grampy used to live about two hrs away, but moved across the U.S. a while back for health reasons. We don't see him much anymore, but when I was reading over Cora Campbell's memories and lessons learned, one of my fav memories of my Grampy came to mind. It happened when I was about seven or eight years old (about ten years ago) when we were at the store together to pick up a few things....
My Grampy is known for his sense of humor, and as we came up to the cashier, my Grampy engaged in conversation:
Cashier: Hi, how are you?
Grampy: Oh alright. But the farmers are having some trouble.
(perfectly straight face, sounded serious)
Cashier: Oh really? I haven't been watching the news lately.
(surprised but interested.)
Grampy: They sure have. See, last summer it was so hot on their farmsthat all the corn started popping, right there in the farmers' fields.(perfectly straight face, still sounded serious)
Cashier: Wow, I never knew it could get that hot. (completely taken by the story, distracted from bagging our groceries, listened intently)
Grampy: And the worst thing is, there was so much popped corn all over the farms that the cows thought it was snow, and they froze to death. (straight face, serious)
Cashier: Oh my, don't you just hate to see a farmer lose all this cows like that? They must be really having a hard time! (unaware that she had just been fooled!)
We left the store, laughing with each other, and laugh even more when we share that experience today! That poor cashier girl who believed such a joke from someone like my Grampy is almost funnier than the joke itself =)
Sarah =)
dreamhorses@juno.com
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www.2theheart.com
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