( not my joke, found it at this website.http://www.gentle.org/graceland/bag5/nate.html I hope you enjoy! :bigsmile:)
A truck driver is
heading west across the Arizona desert. He has been driving all night,
and as the sun starts to rise, he feels the need to stop and commune
with nature. He pulls to the side of the road, parks, and walks out
into the sagebrush.
As he is standing there, looking around at the beauty of the
early morn, he notices a lever sticking out of the ground. After a few
moments, he walks over, walks all the way around, and then reaches out
to grasp the lever. Just as he does, he hears a voice say, "Don't touch
that lever."
The driver jumps about two feet off the ground, and as he comes
down, he looks around. No one is to be seen. Thinking it was just his
imagination, he again reaches for the lever. Again the voice yells, "I
said don't touch that lever!"
Being more prepared, the driver senses the location of the
voice and looks down under a sage brush. There he sees a small snake.
The driver, in much astonishment, said, "Was that you that just spoke?"
The snake said, "Yes. I have to keep people from touching that
lever. If the lever is moved, it will be the end of the world."
The driver, still rather astonished, said, "What is your name?
And will you talk on TV?" The snake said his name was Nate and that he
wasn't interested in going on TV; anyway, he had to stay and watch the
lever to see that it wasn't moved.
The driver said, "Look, I will get the networks to send out
camera crews. That way, you can inform the entire world about the
danger of the lever."
Nate thought that over and allowed as how there was a great
deal of sense to the idea. The driver, true to his word, got the
network camera crews out. They put on broadcasts in which Nate warned
the entire world of the dangers of moving the lever.
A few weeks later, another truck driver was going through the
area. He was following an oil tanker, and the tanker sprang a leak.
When the driver's truck hit the slick, it went out of control, and he
found himself headed straight for the lever. He remembered seeing Nate
on the TV telling about the lever and so he knew that if he hit it, he
would cause the world to end. He strove, with all his might to maneuver
the truck. Finally, at the last moment, he was able to swerve, but he
ran over Nate, the snake, and killed him flat.
The truck driver was heard to say "Well, better Nate than lever."