My Bouchercon joke

Sometimes, you hear a joke you like so much, you keep it to yourself, saving it for a special occasion. I did just that recently with a joke told to me by my Redding, CA, pal Rick Hobbs. I didn't post it on the Internet or e-mail it to my friends. I saved it for the after-hours poker game at Bouchercon.

And now I share it with you:

Two old boys were out hunting when they stumbled upon an enormous sinkhole in the woods. The hole was so deep that they couldn't see the bottom, so naturally they start looking around for something big to throw in there. Over in the bushes, they spot a rusty auto transmission. The two of them lift it and stagger over to the edge and heave the transmission into the hole.

They're both leaning out, listening for the transmission to hit bottom, when they hear an enormous crashing behind them. They wheel around just as a full-grown goat comes charging out of the bushes. The goat runs right between the two startled hunters, goes off the edge and disappears into the hole.

The hunters are dumbfounded. Before they can sort it out, a farmer in overalls ambles out of the woods and says, "Hey, you boys seen a goat?"

The hunters stammer out that they had by God just seen a goat, and that the goat had run right past them and committed suicide in that there sinkhole. Damnedest thing they'd ever seen.

And the farmer says: "Naw, that can't be my goat. My goat is chained to an old transmission."

That's my Bouchercon joke. Feel free to share it. Or save it for a special occasion.