The other two stared at him.
“Tampons?”
The man nodded confidently.
“That’s right.”
They looked at each other, completely confused.
“What exactly are you planning to do with those in prison?”
The third prisoner simply pointed toward the box and smiled.
“According to the package, I can go horseback riding, swimming, and roller-skating.”
The other two prisoners stared at him for a moment.
Then they burst out laughing.
The Prison’s Numbered Joke System
Later that night, another prisoner was brought into the facility just as the guards announced lights out.
The cell block became dark.
But it didn’t become quiet.
A few minutes later, someone suddenly shouted:
“Number twelve!”
The entire prison block exploded with laughter.
Men laughed, shouted, whistled, and pounded on their cell bars.
The new prisoner looked completely confused.
A short while later, another voice called out:
“Number four!”
Again, the whole place erupted.
The newcomer turned toward the prisoner in the cell next to him.
“What is going on?”
His cellmate chuckled.
“We’ve heard the same jokes so many times that we’ve given each one a number.”
“So instead of telling the whole joke, someone just calls out the number.”
The newcomer nodded slowly.
That actually made sense.
A few minutes passed.
Then, feeling brave, he decided to participate.
He took a breath and shouted:
“Number twenty-nine!”
For a second, there was silence.
Then the prison erupted.
The laughter was louder than anything the newcomer had heard before.
People were practically crying.
Some were banging on their cell doors.
Others were struggling to catch their breath.
The newcomer smiled proudly.
He turned to his cellmate.
“Why was twenty-nine so much funnier than the others?”
His cellmate wiped tears from his eyes and shook his head.
“Kid…”
He took another breath between laughs.
“We’ve never heard that one before.”
