

Once upon a time, there lived a woman who
had a maddening passion for baked beans. She loved them but, unfortunately,
they had always had a very embarrassing and somewhat lively reaction
to her. Then one day she met a guy and fell in love. When it became
apparent that they would marry she thought to herself, "He
is such a sweet and gentle man, he would never go for this carrying
on." So she made the supreme sacrifice and gave up beans.
Some months later her car broke down on the way home from work.
Since she lived in the country she called her husband and told
him that she would be late because she had to walk home. On her
way, she passed a small diner and the odor of the baked beans
was more than she could stand. Since she still had miles to walk,
she figured that she would walk off any ill effects by the time
she reached home. So, she stopped at the diner and before she
knew it, she had consumed three large orders of baked beans.
All the way home, she putt-putted. Upon arriving home, she felt
reasonably sure she could control it. Her husband seemed excited
to see her and exclaimed delightedly, "Darling, I have a
surprise for dinner tonight." He then blindfolded her and
led her to her chair at the table. She seated herself and just
as he was about to remove the blindfold from his wife, the telephone
rang. He made her promise not to touch the blindfold until he
returned. He then went to answer the phone.
The baked beans she had consumed were still affecting her and
the pressure was becoming almost unbearable, so while her husband
was out of the room she seized the opportunity, shifted her weight
to one leg and let it go. It was not only loud, but it smelled
like a fertilizer truck running over a skunk in front of a pulpwood
mill. She took her napkin and fanned the air around her vigorously.
Then, she shifted to the other cheek and ripped three more, which
reminded her of cabbage cooking. Keeping her ears tuned to the
conversation in the other room, she went on like this for another
ten minutes. When the phone farewells signaled the end of her
freedom, she fanned the air a few more times with her napkin,
placed it on her lap, and folded her hands upon it, smiling contentedly
to herself.
She was the picture of innocence when her husband returned, apologizing
for taking so long, he asked her if she peeked, and she assured
him that she had not. At this point, he removed the blindfold.
There were twelve dinner guests seated around the table to wish
her a Happy Birthday!