The Proxy Father
The British Government's policy of socialized medicine
has recently been broadened to include a service called "Proxy Fathers".
Under the government plan, any married woman who is unable to become pregnant through
the first five years of her marriage may request the service of a proxy father - a
government employee who attempts to solve the couple's problem by impregnating the
wife. The Smiths, a young couple,
have no children and had decided to use the services of a proxy father to start their family. Mrs. Smith, naturally, was
apprehensive, but she desperately wished for children and agreed with her husband on
this issue. A proxy father was due to arrive that day. Leaving for work, Mr.
Smith said, "I'm off. The government man should be here soon."
Moments later, just by chance, a door-to-door baby
photographer rang the doorbell, hoping
to make a sale.
"Good morning, madam. You don't know me,
but I've come to ..." The salesman started to say.
"Oh, no need to explain. I've been expecting
you." Mrs. Smith cut in.
"Really?" The photographer asked.
"Well, good! I've made a specialty of babies, especially twins."
"That's what my husband and I had hoped.
Please come in and have a seat." The
photographer came in and sat down. "Then you don't need to be sold on the idea?"
"Don't concern yourself. My husband and I
both agree this is the right thing to do." Mrs. Smith offered.
The photographer decided to see if he could close
the deal. "Well, perhaps we should get right down to it."
"Just where do we start?" Mrs. Smith
asked, blushing.
"Leave everything to me." He said, full
of confidence now that he figured he had this deal closed. "I usually try two in the bathtub, one on the
couch and perhaps a couple on the bed. Sometimes the living room floor allows
the subject to really spread out."
"Bathtub, living room floor?" Mrs.
Smith asked, her eyes avoiding his. "No wonder it hasn't worked for Harry
and me."
"Well, madam, none of us can guarantee a good
one every time, but if we try several locations and I shoot from six or seven angles.
I'm sure you'll be pleased with the results. In fact, my business card says,
"'I aim to please.'"
Mrs. Smith smoothed her skirt and said, "Pardon
me, but isn't this all a little informal?"
"Madam, in my line of work, a man must be at
ease and take his time. I'd love to be in and out in five minutes, but you'd be
disappointed with that."
"Don't I know!" Mrs. Smith
exclaimed. "Have you had much success at this?"
The photographer opened his briefcase and pulled out
a portfolio of his baby pictures.
"Just look at this picture. Believe it or not, it
was done on top of a bus in downtown
London."
"Oh my!" Mrs. Smith said, tugging at
her hankerchief.
"And here are pictures of the prettiest twins
in town. They turned out exceptionally well when you consider their mother was so
difficult to work with." The photographer handed Mrs. Smith the picture. "She was?"
"Yes, I'm afraid so. I finally had to
take her down to Hyde Park to get the job done right. I've never worked under such impossible conditions. People
were crowding around four and five deep,
pushing to get a good look."
"Four and five deep?" Mrs. Smith
asked, her eyes now widened in stunned amazement.
"Yes," the photographer said. "And
for more than three hours, too. The mother got so excited she started bouncing around, squealing and yelling at the
crowd. I couldn't concentrate.
I'm afraid I had to ask a couple of men to restrain her. By that time, darkness was approaching and I began to rush my shots.
When the squirrels began nibbling on
my equipment I just packed it all in."
Mrs. Smith leaned forward. "You mean they
actually chewed on your, eh.., equipment?"
"That's right, but it's all in a day's
work." He replied."I consider my work a pleasure. I've
spent years perfecting my patented technique. Now take this baby, I shot this one
in the front window of a big department store."
"I just can't believe it." Mrs.
Smith said, shaking her head, wondering what she had gotten herself into.
"Well, madam, if you're ready, I'll set up my
tripod so that we can get to work."
"TRIPOD?" Mrs. Smith looked worried
now. "Oh yes, I have to use a tripod to rest my equipment on. It's much too heavy and unwieldy for me to hold while I'm
shooting.
Madam? Madam? Are you okay ??? Good Lord,
she's fainted!" |