Bible Salesman

Do we have any Bibles in our storeroom at church?????

A minister realized that his church was getting into serious financial trouble. Coincidentally, while checking the church storeroom, he discovered several cartons of new bibles that had never been opened and distributed. So after his Sunday sermon, he asked for three volunteers from the congregation who would be willing to sell the bibles door-to-door for $10 each to raise the money needed so desperately by the church.

Peter, Paul, and Louie all raised their hands to volunteer for the task. The reverend knew that Peter and Paul earned their livings as salesmen and were likely capable of selling some bibles, but he had serious doubts about Louie. Louie was just a local farmer who had always tended to keep to himself, because he was embarrassed by his speech impediment. Poor little Louis stuttered very badly. But, not wanting to discourage poor Louie, the reverend decided to let him give it a try. He sent the three of them away with the back seats of their cars stacked with bibles and asked them to meet with him and report the results of their door-to-door selling efforts the following Sunday ~ which they did.

Eager to find out how successful they were, the reverend immediately asked Peter, "Well, er, how did you make out selling bibles last week?"

Proudly handing the reverend an envelope, Peter replied, "Pastor, using my sales prowess, I was able to sell twenty bibles, and here's the $200 I collected on behalf of the church." "Fine job, Peter!" the reverend said, vigorously shaking his hand. "You are indeed a fine salesman; and the church is indebted to you." Turning to Paul, he asked, "And Paul, how many bibles did you manage to sell for the church last week?"

Paul, smiling and sticking out his chest, proudly replied, "Reverend, I am a professional salesman, & was happy to give the church the benefit of my sales expertise. Last week I sold 28 bibles on behalf of the church; and here's $280 I collected." The reverend responded, "That's absolutely splendid, Paul. You’re truly a pro, & the church is indebted to you."

Apprehensively, the preacher turned to Louie & said, "And Louie, did you manage to sell any
Bibles last week?"

Louie silently offered the reverend a large envelope. The reverend opened it and counted the contents. "What is this?" the reverend asked! "Louie, there's $3200 in here! Are you suggesting that you sold 320 bibles for the church, door-to-door, in just one week? Louie just nodded. "That's impossible," both Peter and Paul said in unison. "We are professional salesmen, yet you claim to have sold ten times as many bibles as we did!" "Yes, this does seem unlikely," the reverend agreed. "I think you'd better explain how you managed to accomplish this, Louie." Louis shrugged. "I-I-I re-re-really d-do-don't kn-kn--know f-f-f-for s-sh-sh-sure," he stammered. Impatiently, Peter interrupted.

"For crying out loud, Louie, just tell us what you said to them when they opened the door."
"A-a-all I s-s-said was," Louie replied, "W-w-would y-y-you l-l-like to b-b-buy th-th-this B-B-Bible f-f-for t-t-ten b-b-bucks ~ or w-w-would you j-j-just like m-m-me t-t-to st-stand h-h-here and r-r-read it to y-y-you?"