The General went out to find that none of his

G.I.s were there. One finally ran up, panting heavily.

“Sorry, sir! I can explain, you see I had a date and it ran a little

late. I ran to the bus but missed it, I hailed a cab but it broke down,

found a farm, bought a horse but it dropped dead, ran 10 miles, and
now
I’m here.”

The General was very skeptical about this
explanation but at least he
was here so he let the G.I. go. Moments
later, eight more G.I.s came up
to the general panting, he asked
them why they were late.

“Sorry, sir! I had a date and it ran a
little late, I ran to the bus
but missed it, I hailed a cab but it
broke down, found a farm, bought a
horse but it dropped dead, ran 10
miles, and now I’m here.”

The General eyed them, feeling very
skeptical but since he let the
first guy go, he let them go, too. A
ninth G.I. jogged up to the General,
panting heavily.

“Sorry, sir! I had a date and it ran a little late, I ran to the bus

but missed it, I hailed a cab but…”

“Let me guess,” the
General interrupted, “it broke down.”

“No,” said the G.I.,
“there were so many dead horses in the road, it
took forever to get
around them.”