Sometimes on Fridays, I’ve been sharing jokes from the Archer treasury of bad puns. I don’t remember hearing this from a family member, but the style is the same. Let’s call it:

Juanita and the muddy road

Juanita was the prettiest girl in town. Head cheerleader. Homecoming queen. Junior Toad Princess of Westover County. Everyone knew that she was the most desirable single girl for miles around.

Angel was the handsomest boy in town. Star quarterback. Voted “Most Likely To Succeed.” Junior Toad Prince of Westover County. Drove a fiery red Corvette that made all the girls sigh. Everyone knew that he was the most desirable single boy for miles around.

Juanita loved Angel. Angel loved Juanita. It seemed to be a match made in heaven… but Juanita’s dad didn’t see it that way. He didn’t think Angel was good enough for his little girl. In fact, he didn’t think anyone was good enough for his little girl.

Edgardo also loved Juanita, but she didn’t know it. Edgardo was a poor, country boy. Hard-working, honest, but hardly anyone that a girl like Juanita would notice. He watched and wished as Juanita and Angel rode around town in the Corvette.

Angel asked Juanita one day if she would marry him. She accepted, but knew that there was no way her father would ever accept Angel. She told Angel to come to her window at midnight on Saturday, and they would run away together.

But Saturday turned out to be a tremendously rainy day. It rained and rained, and the road to Juanita’s house became a muddy mess. Nothing going in, nothing coming out.

Edgardo was walking near that road Saturday evening when Angel drove up in his Corvette. Angel didn’t see Edgardo, of course; he didn’t tend to notice “the little people.”

“Oh, what am I going to do?” Angel cried aloud, speaking only to himself. “I’m supposed to pick Juanita up at midnight so that we can get married. But there’s no way my Corvette can make it through all this mud.”

Edgardo went home, knowing what he would do. He went to the barn and got out the mud tires. He put those tires on his pickup and, at midnight, went racing off to Juanita’s. At first Juanita was dismayed to find it was Edgardo and not Angel, but when she saw the love in his eyes and thought about the gallantry of his bold act, she gave her heart to Edgardo. They left, and never came back, living happily ever after.

Years later, someone asked Edgardo how he had won such a beautiful woman’s heart. He replied,

“Treads rush in where Angel fears to fool.”