It had been many years since the embarrassing day when a young woman,
baby in arm, entered the butcher shop and confronted its owner with the
news that the baby was his ... and what was he going to do about it?

He had offered to give her free meat until the boy was 16.

She agreed.

The man had been counting off the years on his calendar until one day,
the teenager, who had been coming in to collect the meat each week,
boasted to the butcher, "I'll be 16 tomorrow."

"I know," said the butcher with a smile. "I've been waiting for this day
for a long time. Tell your mother, when you take this parcel of meat
home, that it is the last free meat she'll get. Watch the expression on
her face."

The boy took the meat home and told his mother what the butcher had said.
Mother nodded and said, "Son, go back to the butcher and tell him I have
also had free bread, free milk, and free groceries for the last 16
years... and watch the expression on HIS face!"