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When discussing next step with Murphy, there is a line from Harry:

I took three bullets meant for Rudolph.

Harry starts to laugh his a** off. Next:

"Harry?" Murphy asked. "Why are you laughing?"

"I heard a joke yesterday." I said. "I just got it."

Is it just one of the things that "get lost in translation"? I'm not native English speaker, so I may not getting it...

What joke is he referring to?

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    I suspect Harry thought it was funny that Murphy would take one bullet for Rudolph, let alone three , and laughed without thinking about it. Once challenged, he made up the excuse that he'd just got a joke from the day before. (But I haven't seen the movie.)
    – Andrew Thompson
    Commented Jan 27, 2017 at 11:41
  • +1 for the "I haven't seen the movie" crack... :)
    – AcePL
    Commented Jan 27, 2017 at 16:14
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    FYI, no one but Harry knows he was shot. During the incident he notes that the hit was very professional: inconspicuously-slow moving car, silencer, weapon hidden inside the dark vehicle. It was a public hit, but the subtlety of execution and the lack of anyone dying meant Harry was the only one who recognized the danger. The new explanation for this traumatic event that no one else knows about just tickled his funny bone, but there is no way or time to explain it to Murphy.
    – aherocalledFrog
    Commented Jan 27, 2017 at 18:00
  • We don't actually read about Harry laughing, at first; he's been portraying himself as calm and rational. Murphy's question is our first indication that Harry is behaving oddly in this scene. Harry is more honest -- with himself, Murphy, and us -- after that.
    – Gaultheria
    Commented Jan 13, 2018 at 10:55

1 Answer 1

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I cannot find any joke that might fit this from earlier in the book, although given Harry's penchant for turning everything into a wisecrack, I may be missing something.

The number three comes up a lot (there are 3 sugar packets in the tea that Vadderung serves Harry with his doughnuts), so it's hard to make any connecting reference there either.

Without anything else to link to, I would agree with the comment from @Andrew Thompson. The idea of Rudolph having a hit out on him, only for them to switch to Harry as things played out and thus having accidentally saved Rudolph's life - it's just too much and Harry cracks up a bit. There's no brick joke that I can see. Rudolph has been a pain in the ass for a fair bit of the series at this point, so that fits more than anything else does. The comment about a joke would just a smokescreen to hide what he's laughing about - it is a little creepy thing to laugh at, and although I doubt Harry wishes Rudolph dead, there may be a little delirious crazy thought driving the laugh that it would have helped them out a bit.

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    @AndrewThompson - sigh right, more coffee then....
    – Radhil
    Commented Jan 27, 2017 at 14:39
  • More coffee is goood. ;)
    – Andrew Thompson
    Commented Jan 27, 2017 at 14:40

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