Paying the price

This news story reminded me of an old joke.

It’s about that old “do the crime, do the time” thing.

The true story is that an 81-year-old man in Alaska was sentenced to five years in the slammer for selling OxyContin.

The brief story doesn’t say where he got the stuff. Maybe he traded it on a street corner for some surplus Viagra.

At any rate, here’s the joke:

A 90-year-old man got bored in his retirement so he started robbing banks. He pulled off a few jobs, but eventually he was caught. And indicted, tried and convicted.

So he’s standing before the judge as His Honor tries to determine his sentence.

“Well, Mr. Jones,” the judge says, “this is pretty serious. You have been convicted of several counts of armed robbery. I’m afraid I’m going to have to sentence you to 20 years in the state prison.”

The old geezer is shocked by the sentence.

“Judge, I’m 90 years old,” he says. “I don’t think I can do 20 years.”

The judge was a thoughtful man who’d seen a lot in his many years on the bench. And he didn’t have much sympathy for criminals of any kind.

“Well, Mr. Jones,” he said with a smile. “Just do the best you can.”