A farmer got in his beat-up old pickup, drove over to the neighbors and knocked on the door...

A farmer got in his beat-up old pickup, drove over to the neighbors and knocked on the door.

A young boy, about 9, opened the door.

"Is your paw home?" the farmer asked.

"No sir, he isn't," the boy replied. "He went into town."

"Well," said the man "is your mother here?"

"No sir, she's not here either. She went into town with dad."

"How about your brother, Howard? Is he here?"

"No sir, he went with mom and dad."

The man stood there for a few minutes, shifting from one foot to the other and mumbling to himself.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" the boy asked politely. "I know where all the tools are, if you want to borrow one. Or maybe I could take a message for dad."

"Well," said the rancher uncomfortably, "I really wanted to talk to your dad. It's about your brother Howard getting my daughter, Suzie, pregnant."

The boy considered this for a moment. "You would have to talk to pa about that", he finally conceded. "If it helps you any, I know that pa charges $500 for the bull and $100 for the boar, but I really don't know how much he gets for Howard."