A brunette and her blonde sister live in the rural Southwest US, having inherited their family ranch.
The Great Depression hit them hard, and they only have $600 left.
Fearing that their ranch would be repossessed, the brunette goes to buy a bull so they can breed their own stock. She tells her sister "I'll come and contact you when I make the purchase", and promptly departs.
The bull ends up costing exactly $599, but it's the cheapest one the stockyard has, so the brunette buys it, and goes to the nearest city kilometers away to contact her sister.
With only $1 left, the brunette is shocked to find out that the telegraph office charges $0.99 per word. Having no other way to bring the bull back except by dragging it across the harsh landscape, she commits to her decision.
"Greetings, I'd like a telegraph sent to my sister to go get our family carriage so we can haul the bull back home."
"Okay. Our cost is 99 cents a word."
"I have... 1 dollar here."
"1 dollar? That's one word, then."
"Send her the word 'comfortable'."
"Comfortable? H-how does that tell your sister that she needs to get the carriage and come over to haul the bull back to your home?"
"She's blonde, and she'll read it slowly... come-for-the-bull."
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