4 stories to tickle your funny bone

That pie is the pits

“For our summer fair at church, I volunteered to make a few of my grandma’s famous cherry pies. I also signed on to help with decorations and collect a hundred soda bottles for the ring toss.

“With so much on my plate, I quickly started baking while trying to fulfill my other duties. In the end, I pulled it all together and was so proud when our pastor won the first of my pies! He was thrilled as well, telling me how his mother used to make cherry pie and that it was his favorite. He wanted to dig in, so he found a knife and a fork.

“Pastor Tom prayed over the pie, then he took a big bite. At first, his expression was pure bliss, but then he puckered his lips… and spit out a pit. And then another. That’s when it dawned on me that, being in such a hurry, I’d forgotten to pit the cherries!

“My face was as red as those cherries as Pastor Tom patted my shoulder and paraphrased the Bible, ‘As they say in the Good Book: Eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do… just beware the pits!’ Luckily, he laughed about it as I hightailed it over to the dessert table and took my other pies to my car!”

—Judy Barber, 71, Des Moines