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How To Survive Quarantine With The Help Of Some Old Jokes
I got through two weeks in isolation thanks to a 700-page book of Jewish folklore my fiancée’s father gave me
A few years ago, I found myself hanging out with Richard, my girlfriend’s father, in his domain — the family living room. This wasn’t my idea, and it wasn’t his idea. It was my girlfriend Emilyn’s idea because she shared her father’s mischievous humor.
So, I sat and silently judged the books on his bookshelves while he watched TV. After a few awkward minutes, I broke the silence.
“So you like Dickens, huh?”
He grunted.
“Poetry, too.”
He grunted again. A few more moments floated by. “Grab that one,” he suggested, pointing to an old green book on the top of a pile.
So I did.
“Open it up and read the first joke you see, and I’ll finish it.”
I turned to page 430 and read aloud: “Two old men sat silently over their glasses of tea for what might have been, or at any rate seemed, hours. At last, one spoke: “Oy, vey!” The other said — ”
Her old man shrugged and, in a perfect Yiddish accent, quipped: “You’re telling me!”
