THE BRONZE RAT

A tourist walks into a curio shop in San Francisco.

Looking around at everything, he notices a very lifelike life-sized

bronze statue of a rat. It has no price tag, but is so striking that he

decides he must have it. He takes it to the owner and asks, "How much

for the bronze rat?" The owner replies, "$12 for the rat and $100 for

the story". The tourist gives the man $12 and says, I'll just take the

rat, you can keep the story." As he walks down the street carrying
his

bronze rat, he notices that a few real rats have crawled out of the

alleys and sewers and begun following him down the street. This is

disconcerting, and he begins walking faster. But within a couple of

blocks, the herd of rats behind him has grown to hundreds, and they

begin squealing. He begins to trot toward the Bay, looking around to

see that the rats now number in the MILLIONS, and are squealing and

coming toward him faster and faster. Concerned, even scared, he runs to

the edge of the Bay, and throws the bronze rat as far out into
the

water as he can. Amazingly, the millions of rats all jump into the Bay

after it, and are all drowned. The man walks back to the curio shop. "

"Ah ha," says the owner, "you have come back for the story?" "No," says

the man, "I came back to see if you have a bronze Democrat, a bronze

Muslim cleric or anything French."