Frank and the Pain Transfer Machine
Frank and his wife, Linda, were at the hospital, where Linda was about to give birth to their first child.
Before labor began, the midwife wheeled in a strange-looking machine.
“This is our newest invention,” she explained proudly. “It transfers a mother’s labor pain to the baby’s father.”
Frank’s eyes widened.
“Really?”
“Yes,” she replied. “There’s just one small problem. The machine has a bug. Whatever percentage of pain is transferred to the father is multiplied by ten.”
Frank smiled confidently.
“Let’s try it anyway. Set it to 10%.”
The nurse adjusted the dial.
Almost instantly, Linda looked a little more comfortable.
Frank waited…
Nothing.
He shrugged.
“I hardly felt a thing.”
Surprised, the nurse turned the dial to 20%.
Linda relaxed even more.
Frank still felt absolutely nothing.
“Well,” Frank grinned, “let’s go all the way.”
The nurse hesitated.
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.”
She turned the dial to 100%.
Immediately, Linda’s pain disappeared completely.
Everyone stared at Frank.
According to the machine, he should have been experiencing ten times the pain Linda would normally have felt.
Instead…
He simply smiled.
Not even a wince.
The delivery went perfectly, and a few minutes later, Frank became the proud father of a beautiful baby.
Still amazed, he immediately called his parents.
“Mom! Dad! The machine transferred all of Linda’s labor pain to me… and I didn’t feel a thing!”
His parents laughed with excitement.
“Our son is going to make medical history!”
Next, Frank called his brother Ted.
“Dad already told me,” Ted laughed. “Congratulations! And wow… you must have nerves of steel.”
Finally, Frank called his sister, Martha.
Before he could say a word, Martha blurted out,
“Frank! I was just about to call you!”
“What’s wrong?” Frank asked.
“It’s George!”
“My brother-in-law? What happened?”
“I don’t know!” Martha replied. “We were sitting at home watching TV when, out of nowhere, he suddenly grabbed his stomach, started screaming in agony, collapsed onto the floor, and had to be rushed to the hospital!”
Frank stared silently at the phone.
Slowly…
Very slowly…
He turned his head toward the strange machine sitting beside Linda’s bed.
