too busy to attend.

[keannu]

Does this "attend" mean "participate in some action"?

gu156)Late one night, Malcolm looked out of his bedroom window and saw some thieves busy stealing things from his garden shed. Malcolm immediately called the cops, who told him that all their patrol cars were too busy to attend. "Alright," answered Malcolm, and hung up. Thirty seconds later, he called the cops again. "Hello, I'm the man who just reported the burglars. Anyway, there's no problem whatsoever now because I've just shot every one of them. Bye." Minutes later, three patroll cars arrived and the cops caught the thieves at once. One of the cops said angrily, "I thought you said you'd shot them all!" "And I thought you said there were no availalbe patrol cars at all!" Malcolm answered.

[Rover_KE]

See meaning 1 here.

Rover

[emsr2d2]

On a side note, I really like the rest of the story that you started in post #1. I won't post it in case you were planning to do so yourself.

[keannu]

Why wouldn't I do that? Who asked? It's you, one of my greatest teachers!!! That's a comic story worth reading to blow off steam! How did you know it's such a story?

[5jj]

It's here.

[emsr2d2]

How did you know it's such a story?

That story has been doing the rounds on various social networking sites for the last couple of months.

[Barb_D]

Here's one with a similar idea:
An old man lived alone in the country. He wanted to dig his tomato garden, but it was very hard work as the ground was hard.

His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament.

Dear Vincent,
I am feeling pretty badly because it looks like I won’t be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I’m just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. I know if you were here my troubles would be over. I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me.
Love, Dad


A few days later he received a letter from his son.
Dear Dad,
Don’t dig up that garden. That’s where I buried the bodies.
Love, Vinnie


At 4 a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left. That same day the old man received another letter from his son.

Dear Dad,
Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That’s the best I could do under the circumstances.
Love you, Vinnie