Baptist Cowboy

A cowboy walks into a bar in Texas, orders three mugs of Bud
and sits in the back room, drinking a sip out of each one in turn.
When he finishes them, he comes back to the bar and orders
three more.

The bartender approaches and tells the cowboy, “You know,
a mug goes flat after I draw it, it would taste better if you bought
one at a time.”

The cowboy replies, “Well, you see, I have two brothers. One
is in Australia, the other is in Dublin, and I’m in Texas. When we
all left home, we promised that we’d drink this way to remember
the days we drank together. So I drink one for each of my
brothers and one for myself.”

The bartender admits that this is a nice custom, and leaves it
there. The cowboy becomes a regular in the bar, and always
drinks the same way He orders three mugs and drinks them in
turn.

One day, he comes in and orders two mugs. All the regulars
take notice and fall silent. When he comes back to the bar for
the second round, the bartender says, “I don’t want to intrude
on your grief, but I wanted to offer my condolences on your loss.”

The cowboy looks quite puzzled for a moment, then a light dawns
and he laughs. “Oh, no, everybody’s just fine,” he explains, “It’s
just that my wife and I joined the Baptist Church in Sweetwater
and I had to quit drinking. Hasn’t affected my brothers though.”