In vain Herman asked God to help him out. Whenever he closed his one
eye to receive the divine message all he saw was Cutie’s right leg.
Satan had marked our crepe hanger for his own.
“There is something wrong with me,” groaned our hero, making it
unanimous. “I will have to go and see a doctor.”
This was how it happened that Herman came panting into the offices
of Dr. Kukuheimer, the noted dirt digger who had got rich off the
complex-boom. Herman’s tongue was hanging out like a slice of
watermelon.
The dizzy medicine man took one look at this bottle of sour cream and
patted the marcel in his Van Dyke.
“I will first take the history of your case,” he warned. “Tell me your
name, business and favorite dreams.”
Herman stuck out his tissue paper chest and announced who and what he
was, from one point of view.
“I am,” spoke our hero, “Herman Pupick, censor and reformer. I am
employed by the United States government to fight sin wherever I see
it. My specialty is suppressing lewd and obscene books.”
“Can you read?” inquired Dr. Kukuheimer quickly.
“Well,” said our hero proudly, “I know all the dirty words.”
“Now tell me,” the eagle-brained scientist pursued, “what your symptoms
are?”
“I can’t figure it out,” Herman answered. “I get hot and cold sweats,
ringing in the ear and at night I keep imagining things.”
“What sort of things?” inquired the doctor.
Herman hung his head like a dead herring.
“I would rather not say,” he answered, biting his necktie.
“Oh, them kind of things,” Dr. Kukuheimer frowned. “Well, we will have
to give you the pinochele test.”
The great soul diver pulled down all the window blinds and took out his
magic lantern.
“I will show you some pictures,” he announced, “and take down your
reactions.”
The first picture thrown on the screen was that of Queen Alexandria.
Her Nibs was a regal-looking broad. Herman squirmed in his chair like a
plate full of fresh noodles.
The second picture was Julian Eltinge in he-man’s clothes. Our hero
caught his breath and blushed like a piece of liver sausage.
“Don’t,” he lisped.
Dr. Kukuheimer marked down the reactions with his pencil and switched
on a picture of Baby Peggy. Herman began to heave.
“I didn’t come to see a movie show,” he gurgled. “Movies are lewd and
obscene. Take it away.”
Dr. Kukuheimer turned on a slide showing the ruins of Pompeii. Our hero
was now breathing like the winner of a fat woman’s race. Without giving
him a chance to recover, Dr. Kukuheimer flashed a life sized chromo of
Annette Kellerman.
Herman took one look at the fancy curves and jumped to his feet with
a yell. Tearing his hair, our hero began running around the room and
falling over desks.
“Take her away,” he screamed, “I can’t stand such vile sights.”
But Dr. Kukuheimer only smiled and threw a picture of Gilda Grey on the
screen. Gilda was doing her Hawaiian split and wearing a small-sized
doormat with the word Welcome on it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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