It was cold and windy Valentine’s Day in Chicago. I was out on the West Side, waiting for the Blue Line to take me into the Loop, when an outbound train pulled into the station.
The conductor opened his window. Rather frantically, it seemed, he yelled to me over the din of the carspassing below on the expressway.
“Have you heard the news?” he shouted.
In my post-September 11th mind, I expected the worst. “No? What happened?!” I screamed back.
The man smiled. “Corduroy pillows are making headlines,” he said.
Without missing a beat, he shut his window and pulled out of the station.
I threw my head back in laughter when the man shut the window, and spent much of the following hour or so chuckling about it. But what is really funny about that story, the little side note that I rarely tell, is that I didn’t get really get the joke at first. I thought the whole thing was hilarious — but I went on to tell the story as if the conductor had said the following:”Corduroy hearts are making headlines.”
Hearts? I think I got confused because it was Valentine’s Day. What I had thought was so funny was the man’s matter-of-fact, whimsical and nonsensical statement to me, coupled with the perfectly-timed slamming of the window. It wasn’t until I had told the story for the fourth or fifth time, this time to my friends Claire and Ellie, when one of them pointed out that the punch line didn’t make any sense.
“Duh, Laura, hearts don’t make lines on your head,” explained Claire.
I looked at them both blankly. “What are you talking about?” I asked. “Lines on your head?”
15 responses so far ↓
1 Gabe_Real // Feb 26, 2005 at 1:29 pm
HAHAHAHAHAHA. That may just be the highlight of my Saturday. You so rock. “heart”
2 Didya_evawonda // Feb 26, 2005 at 3:55 pm
I can relate. I have no frickin’ clue. Help for the slow-on-the-uptake among your readers?
3 Jay_galk25 // Feb 26, 2005 at 4:52 pm
Makes that funny noise (waaaahhh waaaaahhh), good stuff, lol and you were in Chicago and didn’t visit me, pfft bitch hehe
4 dancin_with_myself // Feb 26, 2005 at 8:29 pm
haha….oh my gosh…I fully didn’t get it till you explained it…so good. So random that he did that. Lucky you though…got a sweet story out of it.
5 McCrakin_Phil // Feb 27, 2005 at 3:22 am
aww u poor thing.
6 Coccinella // Feb 27, 2005 at 4:33 am
LMAO I’m with you – I was totally clueless about the headline thing til your friends just brought it up LMAO!!!! Hilarious.
7 pinkmojomama // Feb 27, 2005 at 4:40 am
Hey. I found your blog in sort of a round-about way. I was searching for a Santa Fe blogring, and not much to find, really. But I notice you posted on someone’s blog that you would like to move there. Personally, I’m in Oklahoma, but my soul resides in Santa Fe…there’s something there for me and I always hate leaving when I have to come home. Hope you make the move someday. Good luck!
8 Jules27 // Feb 27, 2005 at 4:49 am
Hahaaaa, good one. Makes for a good story that you didn’t get it at first. Sidenote: whenever I think of trains and Chicago, I think of While You Were Sleeping. I don’t even want to guess how many times I’ve seen it…
9 brotherpriest // Feb 27, 2005 at 7:03 am
Aww man, how could you not initially understand such a great joke?? Although, the “corduroy hearts” was an interesting twist. Great story.
10 Jules27 // Feb 27, 2005 at 9:46 am
Re: WYWS, agreed. And the dude in the coma was Peter Gallagher, probably best known to most today as Sandy from the OC. Still, whenever I see his bushy eyebrows, I can hear him asking Lucy Eleanor Moderatz to marry him. OK SEE how many times I’ve seen it? It’s a holiday fave… right up there with Little Women.
11 rainingheart // Feb 27, 2005 at 12:38 pm
I wouldn’t have gotten it either…
12 doctorperky // Feb 27, 2005 at 1:22 pm
But it’s good that you were slow on the uptake because that’s a dreadfully old joke and you would just have groaned at the awful pun. At least I would have. I always find absurdity more entertaining.
13 tektoo2 // Feb 27, 2005 at 2:17 pm
It took me a few minutes to figure to the “head lines” part as well…
14 Didya_evawonda // Feb 27, 2005 at 2:42 pm
Translation: I didn’t get the joke. I need help, I feel dopey.
15 phat_phat_10 // Feb 28, 2005 at 1:35 pm
hey u courtney..blk boy xanga site name-i_just_megged_u…yea well im his lil sister and i saw ur name thingy and i was like hey my names chelsea to …but im not a dog.lol..well bu-bye