So a friend of mine is walking in New York when he passes a Pawn Shop and sees something in the window that just catches his eyes.
In the window is a figurine of a rat.
But the figurine is amazing - the rat is made of solid gold, with finely crafted individual hairs. The eyes are rubies, the nose is Onyx, the whiskers are silver fillagree.
He's astounded, so he goes into the shop, just out of curiosity, to ask the owner about it.
"Look, I know I can never afford it but I was just wondering what you wanted for the rat statue?"
Owner: You like it? You can take it.
Friend: Quit pulling my leg - I'm just curious, no need to be a jerk.
Owner: Friend I'm absolutely serious, you can have the rat, no charge.
Friend: What's the catch???
Owner: Well there is just one catch -- don't bring it back.
So my friend jumps at the chance, and takes the rat with him and continues on his merry way. Only about a block later in his walk he starts hearing a rustling sound behind him, and when he looks back, he's being followed by a dozen or so rats.
This strikes him as wierd, (being the savvy person he is), and he starts to walk faster. The noise behind him gets louder, however, and looking back now there are about a hundred rats or so following him, and more coming.
They're coming out of alleys, and sewers, and from every direction and lining up behind him...and he's freaking out, so he starts running as fast as he can, while thousands of rats continue to stream out behind him.
Finally, panicked and out of breath, he runs to the bay, and takes the bag containing the figure of the golden rat and throws it as far as he can out into the water. Paralyzed with fear, he's stunned as the rats stream past him, and into the river, where they drown.
So my friend, who, as I said, was very savvy, went back to the pawnshop.
"Ok, I see why you didn't want me to bring it back, but I have a question for you. Do you have a gold lawyer?"
