A long, furry pun...

Ever since Jeff was a small boy, he has had a fondness for cute and furry animals. He loved movies with cartoon characters like Thumper, Pooh, and Tigger. His parents indulged him, buying plush toys and teddy bears.

He never outgrew his fascination, and as a young man took a job as an assistant at a veterinary clinic so he could be around animals. In the meantime, he taught himself how to cut and sew furry costumes. He got quite good at this, making fantastically detailed versions of his favourite cartoon animals as well as his own creations.

But he was lonely in his obsession. He knew others wouldn’t appreciate his efforts so he was reduced to wearing his beautiful creations alone in his small apartment in the back of the veterinary clinic. So imagine his elation one day when, playing around on the internet, he discovered Furries. Here was a whole subculture of like-minded people.

He began communicating with other Furries, joined organizations, signed up for the newsletter, he even got the T-shirt. Then he learned that a large Furry convention was to be held in his city. He pre-purchased his ticket and began to work furiously on a new costume. One that could win first prize at the convention.

Convention weekend finally came and on the first day he had the time of his life. For the first time he was among people like himself, and everyone was in glorious costume. He even met a cute little vixen, and they talked for hours.

The next day he worked all day finishing his new costume. He wanted it to be perfect. The judging was to be that evening and he wanted to impress the little vixen and he wanted to win the contest.

Just as he was finishing up he checked the time and saw that if he didn’t hurry he would be late for the parade and judging. Just a few more stitches and he threw the costume on, (it was magnificent), ran out his apartment door and through the dark animal clinic.

Unfortunately, in his haste, he hadn’t made the eye holes just right and it was hard to see in the darkened clinic. He tripped and went tumbling head first into the bin where they kept the large syringes for the horse tranquilizers.

He got to his feet and turned on a light. The fur on his costume was thick enough that he hadn’t been pricked by any of the needles but he did look like a hedgehog. He pulled all the syringes out and ran through the door and down the street all the way the hotel where the convention was. What he didn’t know was that there was still one big syringe sticking right out of the top his head.

He was just in time and proudly paraded in front of the judges and winked at the little vixen he spotted in the crowd. Jeff didn’t win first prize, but he did win in one of the more obscure categories. He looked at his medal and it said, “First prize for the best depiction of a show tune.”

Puzzled, he asked the presenting judge, “What show tune?” “*The Furry with the Syringe on Top*, of course.”