Golden Phone

ART6

An American photographer on vacation touring England and Ireland was inside a church in London taking photographs when he noticed a golden telephone mounted on the wall with a sign that read '£10,000 per call'.

The American, being intrigued, asked a priest who was strolling by what the telephone was used for.

The priest replied that it was a direct line to heaven and that for £10,000
you could talk to God.

The American thanked the priest and went along his way.

Next stop was in Lincoln,There, at a very large cathedral, he saw the same
golden telephone with the same sign under it.

He wondered if this was the same kind of telephone he saw in London and he asked a nearby nun what its purpose was.

She told him that it was a direct line to heaven and that for £10,000 he
could talk to God.

'O.K., thank you,' said the American.

He then traveled to York, Rotherham, Sheffield Dewsbury, and Pickering. In every church he saw the same golden telephone with the same '£10,000 per call' sign under it.

The American, upon leaving Yorkshire traveled on to Dublin to see
if the Irish had the same phone.

He arrived in Dublin, and again, in the first church he entered, there was
the same golden telephone, but this time the sign under it read '50 cents
per call.'

The American was surprised so he asked the priest about the sign. 'Father,
I've traveled all over England and I've seen this same golden telephone in
many churches. I'm told that it is a direct line to heaven, but in England
the price was £10,000 per call. Why is it only 50 cents here?'

The priest smiled and answered, 'You're in Ireland now, son ... it's a local
call.'