Thursday, March 15, 2007

Story: A Good Dinner is Hard to Find

A stock broker was sitting on a park bench one afternoon when a mosquito lit upon his arm and asked for lunch. The stock broker replied, “I need my blood for myself. But I am always open to a deal.”

The mosquito contemplated. “I happen to have many viruses. I will share them with you. Perhaps one of them will end up like penicillin and make you richer than you already are.”

Being richer than he already was fundamental to his life motivation, so the stockbroker allowed the tiny insect to suck out a few drops of his blood. She nodded her thanks and flew away.

A few days later, her daughter returned, with a few hundred relatives. The stock broker gladly rolled up his sleeves, even though he knew it was a high risk transaction. "The bigger the deal, the bigger the profit,” he chortled.

"The insect sisterhood appreciates the many new lives we can create with your blood,” they said as they ate their fill.

Day by day he traded his blood for the possibility of receiving a beneficial virus. Three weeks later, he sat on the bench suffering from malaria, West Nile Virus, anemia and other dreadful conditions. Thousands of mosquitoes descended on him, all descendants of the original insect, all from his own blood.

As the insects drank the remainder of his blood, the stock broker moaned, "This deal did not work out. I’m dieing."

One of the great great great great granddaughters of the original mosquito nodded. "You should have sold short," she said, and finished him off.

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