Smart and Smarter

Sometimes things are not what they seem. Two stories about people being smart (intelligent).

A Barber's Tale

A businessman was talking with his barber, when they both noticed a stupid-looking fellow strolling down the pavement.
The barber whispered, “That’s Tommy, one of the stupidest kids in the city. Here, I’ll show you.”.
“Hey Tommy! Come here!” yelled the barber.
Tommy came bouncing over. “Hi Mr. Williams!”.
The barber pulled out a shiny ten-pence piece and an old dirty twenty-pence piece and told Tommy he could keep the one of his choice.
Tommy looked long and hard at the coins and then quickly snapped the ten-pence from the barber’s hand.
The barber looked at the businessman and said, “See, I told you.”
After his haircut, the businessman caught up with Tommy and asked him why he chose the ten-pence coin.
Tommy stopped looked at him for a moment and said “If I take the other one, the game is over.” He then winked quickly and carried on down the road.

The Smuggler

Sometimes we miss the most obvious things right in front of us.
During the War many years ago, a young man used to ride his bicycle every day from Italy up to the the Yugoslav border where he would be questioned by the uniformed border-guard.
“Where are you going today, Capitalist Scum?” asked the guard.
“To visit my mother in Yugoslavia, Sir.”
“Step inside. You will be searched” ordered the guard.
The young man was thoroughly searched and released, but the guard remained suspicious.
This routine was repeated every day for several years but the border guard, still convinced that the man was a smuggler, could find nothing.
Eventually, with the end of the War, the border was opened and the young man would occasionally stop in a tavern on the Yugoslav side.
One afternoon, as he sat at the bar, the old border-guard came over and sat down beside him.
“The War is over now”, said the guard “and I am retired, but I still have nightmares about you. You really were a smuggler, weren’t you?”
“Yes, of course” replied the young man.
“But what were you smuggling?”
The young man sipped a mouthful of beer and smiled. “Bicycles” he replied.