A Skeleton walked into a bar he said I need a beer and a mop

This just tells me that you should always know basic first aid, and be careful where you stop on the road.



He had a point.

Mikey and I were going West on I-84 and had just stopped for gas and lunch in Boise when our talk turned to our favorite book series. I, of course, was listing off all the fantasy series I'd enjoyed. LOTR, naturally. Dragonriders of Pern. Broken Earth. Percy Jackson. Discworld. Will Wight's Cradle Series. Terry Brooks' "Magic Kingdom for sale... Sold!"...

"Wait, WHAT?" said Mikey. "Terry Brooks? No man. No. You can't EVEN list that guy with the others. He's a hack!"

"What?" I said, while Mike grabbed another grape from the bag we'd snagged in Boise. "His stuff is fun! The Magic Kingdom series was, at least. And a good friend of mine was really into Shannara back..."

Mike made a retching noise. "SHANNARA? Oh God. That was... just the least creative rip-off of LOTR ever."

"We really enjoyed it."

"Oh you DID, did you? When was this?"

"Back when we were in middle school..."

"See? Middle school. You were hardly discerning readers back then." And then he started making horrific gross disgusting choking noises.

I thought he was just poking more fun at my tastes, but then I realized he really WAS choking on one of those grapes. By the time I figured it out, pulled over the car, and tried to help him get it dislodged, it was too late. :(

And it's haunted me ever since, the time when Mike died on the Oregon Trail of dissin' Terry.