Number 29 Broke Them

Eventually, one man broke the silence.

“I brought a deck of cards,” he announced. “That way, whenever things get boring, I can play a game and pass the time.”

The second prisoner nodded.

“Not bad. I brought drawing supplies. At least I can spend my time painting pictures and imagining life outside.”

Then they turned toward the third man.

He had been sitting quietly, holding a large bag.

“So,” the first prisoner asked, “what did you bring?”

The third man opened his bag.

Inside were several boxes of tampons.

The other prisoners stared.

Even the guards struggled to keep straight faces.

“Tampons?” one prisoner asked. “What on earth are you going to do with those?”

The man smiled confidently.

“Haven’t you seen the commercials? With these, I can go swimming, horseback riding, and do whatever I want!”

For the first time that day, the prison bus erupted in laughter.

But life behind bars offered another kind of humor.

In one cell block, prisoners had spent so many years together that they’d heard every joke imaginable.

Eventually, they developed a system.

Instead of telling the whole joke, they simply assigned each one a number.

One evening, a prisoner shouted:

“Number twelve!”

Everyone laughed.

Another called:

“Number seventeen!”

The cell block erupted again.

A newcomer watched in confusion.

When someone explained the system, he decided to try it himself.

He stood up and shouted:

“TWENTY-NINE!”

The entire cell block exploded with laughter.

Men bent over, tears streamed down their faces, and even the toughest prisoners could barely breathe.

The newcomer was delighted.

“Wow! Was number twenty-nine really that funny?”

An older prisoner wiped his eyes.

“No,” he gasped. “We’ve just never heard that one before!”

Sometimes, even in the bleakest circumstances, an unexpected joke can break through the silence.

And when people believe they’ve seen and heard everything, a little absurdity can still catch them completely off guard!