On Your Garden Swing

A husband and wife are asleep when someone starts banging on the front door in the middle of the night.

The man checks the bedside clock. It is 3:00 a.m.

“No chance I’m getting up now,” he mutters, turning over.

A moment later, the knocking comes again, even louder.

His wife nudges him. “Are you seriously not going to see who it is?”

Grumbling, he climbs out of bed, stumbles downstairs, and opens the door. Outside stands a stranger, clearly very drunk.

The man at the door squints at him and says, “Sorry to bother you… could you give me a shove?”

“Absolutely not. It’s three in the morning,” the husband snaps, and shuts the door.

Back upstairs, he climbs into bed and tells his wife what happened.

She frowns. “That was unkind. Do you remember when our car died in the rain and you had to knock on someone’s door for help? Imagine if they had turned you away.”

“He was drunk,” the husband says.

“So what?” she replies. “He still needed help. Go help him.”

Feeling guilty, the husband gets dressed, heads back downstairs, and opens the front door. He cannot see anyone in the dark, so he calls out:

“Hey! Do you still need a push?”

From somewhere outside comes the answer:

“Yes, please!”

The husband looks around and shouts, “Where are you?”

A voice calls back:

“Over here… on your garden swing!”