A man took
his pregnant wife to the hospital. The doctor looked her over and told them it
would be a rather difficult delivery. He offered to let the couple try an
experimental procedure. The woman would be connected to a machine that would
transfer part of the pain to the father of the baby, thus reducing her own. The
man quickly agreed. The doctor warned him, though, that there was a slight bug
in the machine that caused it to amplify the pain sent to the father by ten
times, and if the pain became too much for to bear would he please let the
doctor know.
The doctor turned on the machine and watched the man. The man said he felt
absolutely fine and he could take more. The doctor turned the dial up to 40,
60, 80, and finally 100% of the pain, times ten. The woman delivered the baby
painlessly and the doctor stared at the man, astonished at how he could not
even flinch with that much pain brought upon him.
The couple took the new baby home. There, on the front step, the mailman lay
dead.