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The phone rings. The lady of the house answers, "Hello?" 

"Mrs. Ward, please."

"Speaking," she replies.

"Mrs. Ward, this is Doctor Jones at the Medical Testing Laboratory.
When your Doctor sent your husband's samples to the lab, the samples
from another Mr. Ward were sent as well, and now we're uncertain as to
which ones are your husband's. Frankly, it is either bad or terrible."

"What do you mean?" Mrs. Ward asks.

"Well, one Mr. Ward has tested positive for Alzheimer's disease and 
the other positive for AIDS. We can't tell which your husband's is."

"That's terrible! Can't we just do the test over?" questions Mrs. Ward.

"Normally, yes. But Medicare won't pay for these expensive tests more
than once."

"And? What the hell am I supposed to do now?" she enquires, very upset.

"The people at Medicare recommend that you drop your husband off in the
middle of town. If he finds his way home, don't sleep with him."


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[Contributed by Peter Woods]

Stupidity got us into this mess -- why can't it get us out?