“The Banker and the Man from Prague.”

In this story, an American banker had frequent dealings with associates all over the world, and whenever possible would invite one of them to come to America. Usually the visit would include some uniquely American experience, like wilderness camping in the Northwest, or a visit to a dude ranch.

After several invitations, a man from Prague, Czechoslovakia, came to visit the American banker. It was decided that the two would spend a few days camping in the wilds of central Washington State, in the Bitterroot Mountains.

Once at their campsite, the two erected their tent, set up camp, and broke out their fishing gear to try to catch some supper. They had a spectacular evening, catching half a dozen trout and frying them over an open fire. They saved the remaining fish in a container, and bedded down for the night.

In the middle of the night the banker awoke to the sound of tearing canvas! A pair of Grizzly bears was trying to get to the fish, ripping into their tent. The banker shook his guest to rouse him, then scampered to a tree and climbed as high as he could, panic stricken.

In horror, he heard his guest screaming as one of the bears mauled him, then the banker watched by moonlight as the same bear calmly ate the man from Prague! The bears finally ambled off, but it was not until daylight that the banker found courage to climb down the tree and make his way to his vehicle.

He summoned help by cellular phone. A team of rangers was sent to the campsite with rifles to hunt down the bears, for once a bear tastes human flesh it is likely to repeat its attacks on other campers.

The banker went along as the rangers tracked the animals. A few miles from the campsite they spotted them, moving sluggishly through the forest! As the rangers took aim, the banker whispered emphatically, “It was the male! Shoot the male! The male is the one who ate my friend!” The rangers fired, and the male bear dropped dead as the female took off in terrified flight.

However, after dissecting the bear, the rangers found no trace of human remains and surmised that it must have been the female bear after all!

The moral?

(Below)



Never trust a banker who tells you “The Czech is in the male!”

(Sorry. It’s a very old one that I just happened upon in a Word file folder and smirked at in memory. Then I thought, “What the heck, maybe ONE of my readers hasn’t seen this, or might smirk in recognition as I did.")

By the way, as Rita dumps rain on "the ArkLaTex," Victoria made it to 102 degrees today. Hades index at about 107%. What little wind we have is now out of the Southwest, coming in from the Mexican deserts.

Whew!