The "Blood and Animal Test" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Karen has just left.  Karen is a nurse who makes house calls to check out candidates who have applied for life insurance.   When Carol and I moved into our "Beach House" about 15 years ago, I took out a term insurance policy to cover the mortgage.  Problem with the policy was the premium increased quite a bit after 15 years.  That time has arrived so I decided to let the policy run out and get another policy with a lower premium.  Next problem is ...... I'm 15 years older!  In order to get a new policy I have to have all kinds of tests performed to make sure I won't croak in the next couple of months and the company has to pay before I've had a chance to give them some of my money.  

First time Karen came she weighed me (brought her own digital scale), checked my height with a rule, administered a EKG while I was on my recliner, took my blood pressure and drew a couple of vials of my blood.  Out the door in 20 minutes.  I thought that was the end of it until she called and said I had to answer a few questions that she had to administer in person.  Well, she made another visit about an hour ago and started with the questions.  Have I ever fallen down?  Do I have trouble with stairs?  Can I do things for myself?  Do I have a handicap placard?  "Uh oh!  That one could give me trouble," I told her.  Then I told her I have a temporary one since I need back surgery.  Then she hit me with the tough stuff.  "I'm going to say 10 words and you need to repeat them back to me in the same order.  I would have been OK probably until after each word she had to give me a definition or tell me what it meant.  Jeez, by the time she had given me all 10 I couldn't even remember the first one.  Words like OAK (a type of tree whose wood is considered a hardwood and is used in kitchen cabinets), plain (not busy and not like the woodworking tool), servant (a person who works for you that may be owned by the person), list (a series of words or things that you may have to do or you may need at the store), ....... do you remember the first word by now?   I did manage to give her 6 of the words, in order, believe it or not, and then she asked if I could remember any of the other words, not necessarily in order.  I ended with 9 of them.  Then she said, "OK, now try it again."  Wow, I was starting to sweat.  I could see I wasn't getting a new insurance policy.  "How do other people do on this part of the test?" I asked her.  She couldn't comment on that.  Then she started to give me names of three animals and I had to tell her which one was different.  Sheep, tiger and rat.  Giraffe, rabbit and elephant.  Rabbit, elephant, monkey.  On and on she went and I gave her my best guesses.  Then she stopped and said, "Now name the 10 different animals we just talked about.  I aced it!!  Named all but one of them.  "Luckily I don't have to name them in alphabetical order," I said to her.  That drew a smile.  Well, my test was over and she packed up her brief case and thanked me for being a good patient and out the door she went.  I'm now getting older by the day, so I hope to hear soon whether I qualified for the policy that I had applied for recently.  The placard worries me the most.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.