Mules

[Doug Alan <nessus>]

> From: ambar@ATHENA.MIT.EDU
> To: nessus@mit-eddie
> Subject: Mules

> (throw this in the list or not, as you wish, but...)

> Mules are sterile, but not sexless.  Female mules still
> come into heat.  Male mules must still be gelded because
> of behavioral problems.  The cause of a mule's sterility
> is that, in order to reproduce, it must have exactly 50%
> donkey genes and 50% horse genes (or do I mean chromosomes?
> never mind.)  There actually are some documented cases of
> mules giving birth.  Whether the offspring looked like a
> horse or a donkey depended on the father.

> 				Jean "equine expert" Diaz

Okay, so maybe KB turning into a mule at the end of "Get Out" isn't the
perfect solution.  Then again, maybe what she was really afraid of was
getting pregnant. <half-serious facial expression> This would solve
that.  Or maybe the story isn't over, and when J. Eric sends KB a letter
saying "Look, mules aren't neuter!" she'll write a sequel to "Get Out"
telling us what happens when the character realizes this.

Does it really matter if mules aren't really neuter?  I think not!  The
point came across perfectly to me.  After all, this is poetic metaphor
-- not reality.  I don't think "I turn into the Amoeba/ Ooze Ooze" would
have worked quite as well....

			"Let me bring you the Devil Dreams"

			 Doug