What's the difference between free-range chicken and a firing range?
***
One day, a man was reading in a library when suddenly, out of the blue, a total stranger walked up to him.
"Hi," said the stranger, trembling, "I'm Bob."
"What are you doing?" asked the man, "I'm trying to read!"
"Won't you tell me your name?" asked Bob.
"Fine, I'm William, now go away!" Bob responded by screaming in joy and hugging William. "What's wrong with you?!" demanded the nonplussed William.
"I-I'm sorry," stammered Bob through tears of joy, "It's just that, as of right now, I know every single adult human in the world!"
William paused. Clearly this man was crazy. "Okay..." began William, but he was suddenly interrupted by the librarian:
"Bob, be a little quieter; people are trying to read," whispered the librarian.
"Sorry," said Bob, "I just met William, and that means I know everyone, so I was a little excited."
"Really?" asked the librarian, "That's great!"
William decided to escape that nut house and slipped away, only to be followed by Bob, who had decided to become William's best friend.
William walked on and did his best to ignore Bob, but it was difficult with all the cries of "Hi, Bob" coming from every jogger, taxi driver, and homeless bum on the road. Eventally, he could take it no more, and wheeled to face Bob.
"All right!" he exclaimed, "so you know a lot of people in New York! Big deal! You can't possibly know everyone in the world!"
Bob paused. "A lot of people say that to me, but it's true. Name anyone, and I'll prove I know him."
"Fine," muttered William, "let's see how well you know
these people..." He ran to a newsstand and bought a phone book. Quickly, he looked of the number of the nearest asylum. "Hello, I've got this guy named Bob following-"
"You have Bob there?" asked the voice on the other line, "Can I talk to him?"
William confidently handed the phone over to Bob, silently blessing his luck at reaching the man's caretaker. As Bob talked, however, William noticed that he didn't seem to be talking to a psychiatrist. In fact, Bob was talking as though he were engaging in simple small talk. Eventually, with a jovial "See you later," he handed the phone back to William. "That was easy. Convinced?"
William was not convinced. "If you know everyone, then you must even know crazy guys like Kim Jong Il."
Wordlessly, Bob took William's phone back and dialed. "Hey, Kimmy! How's things?... Yeah, it's been way too long... What's that?... I dunno... That would be around the time of our last visit, right?... Hang on, lemme check..." With that, Bob rummaged around in his cargo pants before removing a large brown envelope labelled "TAEPODONG." "Here it is!... Sorry about that... Was it important?..."
William snatched the phone away from Bob furiously. "You expect me to fall for some cheap stunt like that!?" he demanded.
"Stop yelling at Bob!" screamed a passing jogger.
"Is there any way I can convince you?" asked Bob.
"Yes," said William. "If you really know everyone, I want you to take me to the Pope. In person."
"Sure thing!" said Bob.
William's confidence wavered slightly when the airline employees were happy to give their "good friend" free first class tickets to Rome, but there was no going back. They reached the Vatican Wednesday morning. William demanded that Bob take him to the Pope immediately, but the two were stopped by a Swiss Guardsman.
"What are you doing?!" he demanded. "Hi, Bob."
"I'm here to visit Joe," said Bob.
"Sure, he got your call. Go right in." William stepped forward. "Hey! Where do you think you're going?"
"I'm with him," said William, anxious to see this "Joe."
"You can't come in here. I don't trust you," replied the Swiss Guardsman.
"Sorry, Billy," said Bob, "but you'll have to do what he says. I'll meet you in Saint Peter's Square."
Alright, thought William as he headed towards the Square,
this guy obviously knows a Swiss Guardsman and some guy named "Joe." So what? It's not like he could possibly know the real Pope. He worked his way through the crowd in the square.
He's pretty clever, I'll grant him, but there's no way he'll ever-- William was startled from his reverie by a voice on a loudspeaker system announcing "
amici mei, Bob!"
William looked up, stunned. There, in front of the crowd, were Pope Benedict XVI and Bob. William gazed in awe for several full seconds until he was startled out by a man next to him whispering, "Hey, who's that wierd guy sitting next to Bob?"