Megan and I were out running errands last weekend and, when we pulled into a parking lot at Five Below, we saw an older man sleeping in another car in the lot. As I turned off the engine, I pointed at the man and said to Megan, "So do you think he’s sleeping or do you think he’s dead?"
Now, when I relay that story to friends, almost invariably, the reaction has been one of shock. "Oh my god! You actually asked her that?!"
But Megan, who is nine years old, simply gave me her best eye roll, accompanied by a snicker and a withering What a silly question look, and said, "Sleeping. Why would he be dead?"
As we walked to the store, I said, "He could have had a heart attack or it could have been like on television and someone sneaked up on him and killed him."
Megan simply rolled her eyes.
Walking back to the car, we saw another man sleeping, so I asked again, "Do you think he’s sleeping or dead?"
Another eye roll and a laugh. "Sleeping."
At this point, I was pretty much done with the joke, but as luck would have it, I got a perfect setup for a punchline.
As we were waiting to pull out onto a main road, a funeral procession was stopped at a red light… with the hearse in perfect view.
I pointed at it. "Do you think he’s sleeping or dead?"
*ba-dum ching*
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Note: For the record, we saw both of the sleeping men move, so it’s fairly certain they weren’t dead. As for the hearse, we saw a casket, but obviously couldn’t see a body, so we don’t know if there even was a body, much less if it was sleeping, dead, male or female. I think it’s a pretty safe bet to go with "dead," though.