Has Your Friend Died?

A man always went to the same bar at the same time every day and asked for two glasses of beer. He drank them and then asked for two more.

One day the man behind the bar said to him, ‘Why do you always ask for two glasses of beer? Why don’t you get one big glass instead?’

The answered, ‘Because I do not like to drink alone. I drink with my friend.’

But a few days later the man came in and asked only for one beer.

‘Oh’ said the barman, ‘has your friend died?’

‘Oh, no,’ said the man. ‘He is very well. This beer is for him. But, I have stopped drinking beer. My doctor doesn’t want me to drink any more because it is dangerous for me.’

(L.A. Hill, Elementary Stories for Reproduction, Oxford University Press)