An arrogant professor boarded a plane and took his seat ( with his computer on his lap) beside an elderly man quietly flipping through a newspaper.
Bored and itching to flex his intellect, the professor leaned over.
“Hey,” he said with a smug grin, “how about we play a little game to pass the time?”
The old man looked up calmly. “What kind of game?”
“We take turns asking each other questions,” the professor explained. “If you don’t know the answer, you owe me a dollar. If I don’t know, I’ll give you a dollar.”
The old man shook his head. “No thanks.”
The professor smirked. “Alright, how about this — if I don’t know the answer, I’ll give you two dollars.”
“Still not interested.”
“Five dollars?”
“Nope.”
“Ten!”
The old man gave a small sigh. “Son, I’m trying to relax.”
The professor’s ego flared. “Okay, okay. Final offer — if I can’t answer your question, I’ll give you $100. You only owe me $1 if you miss.”
The old man raised an eyebrow, then nodded slowly. “Alright. But I get to go first.”
“Deal!” the professor grinned, rubbing his hands together.
The old man leaned in and asked, “What has five heads, forty feet, and lives in a bucket?”
The professor blinked. “Wait … what?”
He scribbled notes, ran equations, whispered theories to himself. He even secretly pulled out his phone under his jacket to search online. Nothing. Total mental meltdown.
After nearly an hour of fuming and frustration, he gave up. Grumbling, he pulled a crisp $100 bill from his wallet and handed it to the old man.
“Alright,” he growled. “What’s the answer?”
The old man smiled warmly, reached into his pocket, and handed the professor a single dollar.
“Don’t know,” he said with a shrug.