A PICNIC
Ask Shmuel, the capmaker, just for a joke, if he would like to come for a picnic! He'll fly out at you as if you had invited him to a swing on the gallows. The fact is, he and his Sarah once went for a picnic, and the poor man will remember it all his days.
It was on a Sabbath towards the end of August. Shmuel came home from work, and said to his wife:
"Sarah, dear!"
"Well, husband?" was her reply.
"I want to have a treat," said Shmuel, as though alarmed at the boldness of the idea.
"What sort of a treat? Shall you go to the swimming-bath to-morrow?"
"Ett! What's the fun of that?"
"Then, what have you thought of by way of an exception? A glass of ice water for supper?"
"Not that, either."
"A whole siphon?"
Shmuel denied with a shake of the head.
"Whatever can it be!" wondered Sarah. "Are you going to fetch a pint of beer?"
"What should I want with beer?"
"Are you going to sleep on the roof?"
"Wrong again!"
"To buy some more carbolic acid, and drive out the bugs?"
"Not a bad idea," observed Shmuel, "but that is not it, either."
