A woman awakes during the night to find that her husband is not in bed.  
  She puts on her robe and goes downstairs to look for him.  
    
  She finds him sitting at the kitchen table with a hot cup of cocoa in  
  front of him. He appears to be in deep thought, just staring at the  
  wall. She watches as he wiped a tear from his eye and takes a sip of  
  his hot cocoa.  
    
  ÇÇÇ"What's the matter, dear?" she whispers as she steps into the room.  
  "Why are you down here at this time of night?"  
    
  The husband looks up from his cocoa, "It's the 20th Anniversary of the  
  day we met."  
    
  She can't believe he has remembered and starts to tear up.  
    
  The husband continues, "Do you remember 20 years ago when we started  
  dating? I was 18 and you were only 16," he says solemnly.  
    
  Once again, the wife is touched to tears thinking that her husband is  
  so caring and sensitive. "Yes, I do" she replies.  
    
  The husband pauses. The words were not coming easily. "Do you remember  
  when your father caught us in the back seat of my car?"  
    
  "Yes, I remember," said the wife, lowering herself into a chair beside him.  
    
  The husband continued, "Do you remember when he shoved the shotgun in my  
  face and said, 'Either you marry my daughter or I will send you to  
  prison for 20 years?'"  
    
  "I remember that, too," she replied softly.  
    
  He wiped another tear from his cheek and said, "I would have gotten out  
  today."  
    
    
  ... Why waste time learning when ignorance is instantaneous.  
  --- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32  
   * Origin: Rockford Files - telnet://rockford.yi.org (1:120/481)