Make a Joke

Waiting for a pause in the girls conversation, Dack jumped right in with one of his jokes from home. It had always gotten a chuckle from the kids in his area, even if they'd heard it before.

"Why did the Barley Farmer call a Doctor for help when his grain started talking?"

The shuttle went silent, and the girl on either side of you look at you with expressions nearing disbelief. The silence was getting awkward when somewhere near the front of the shuttle someone cautiously called out, "Uh... why?"

Dack nearly broke into giggles, but was able to get out, "Cause they were Barley alive! Bahahaha!"

There were a couple of groans, but Connors and Ginn both burst out laughing as well. The girls, however, sat shaking their heads with expressions of confusion on their faces. They had not enjoyed his joke.

The rest of the flight was quick, and Dack was engaged in conversation once they touched down by Connors and Ginn as they traded farming jokes from back home. Two years into the Academy Dack would drop out and go back home to inherit the farm from his ailing father.