Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

This is a story I heard many years ago. I wrote it out and saved it in my files. It went into my files for my columns years ago. Before I tell you the story I must make a disclaimer. Although my friends call me Chuck, this story is not about me.

“A fellow named Chuck encountered a farmer one day.  The farmer said he had a real deal for him.  He was selling raffle tickets to win a horse.  Chuck purchased one of the tickets and went on his way.

A few weeks later Chuck gets in touch with the farmer who tells him that he won the horse.  Chuck says that is great and asks when he can pick up the horse.  The farmer tells him that he regrets to report that the horse died last night.

Chuck demands to claim the horse even if it is dead and shows up at the farm with a truck.  The farmer is perplexed as to what Chuck plans to do with a dead horse.

Several months later the two meet up again and the farmer asks about the horse.  Chuck tells him he made $2500.00 off of the horse.  When asked how he was able to get that much for a dead horse he is told that Chuck raffled the horse off and when the winner came to pick up the horse and was told it was dead, Chuck gave him his money back and disposed of the dead horse.

The farmer then explains that Chuck is now a congressman.”

There are many morals to this story that I could give you. One is that a creative person can accomplish a great deal even with a dead horse. Or I could tell you that caveat emptor is Latin for “let the buyer beware.” I could even explain to you the U.S. economy. It is based on buy low and sell high.

This is Father’s Day and as a dad I am enticed to just accept this as a good dad’s joke. Or you might call it a bad dad joke. I have told a lot of those over the years and a few of the former.

My favorite story about my joke telling experiences is the time we were moving our youngest daughter from one dorm at Rolla to a different building to become a residence assistant. Some of her friends brought trucks and we were using our van to load, move and unload her possessions.

We were all visiting with each other and my daughter told first one and then another of my tales. After a while I had the opportunity to speak to her alone and I mentioned that she was using the material that she always told me was not funny. Each time she told a joke her friends laughed.

Her response was that she knew how to tell a joke better than I did. This was a line from another of my anecdotes. On this occasion I want to wish all dad’s a happy Father’s Day and apologize if once again I have confirmed what Kayla said.

©Copyright 2025 by Charles Kensinger