An old, tired-looking dog walks into a man’s yard. The man checks the dog’s collar, feels its well-fed belly, and realizes that the dog has a home. There’s no sign that the animal is neglected or lost. In fact, the dog looks surprisingly healthy—just exhausted. The dog follows him into the house as if it has been there before, walks confidently down the hall, jumps onto the couch, curls up comfortably, relaxes, and falls deeply asleep.
The man finds this rather strange, but he decides there is no harm in letting the exhausted dog rest. After about an hour, the dog wakes up, stretches, yawns, goes to the door, and looks back at the man as though politely asking to be let out. The man opens the door. The dog shakes his head, gives a little sigh, and leaves without a sound.
The next day, the dog comes back and scratches at the door. The man opens it, and without hesitation, the dog comes in, walks down the hall, jumps on the couch, relaxes, and goes straight back to sleep. By now, the man is beginning to wonder whether the dog has somehow decided that his house is a hotel. Still, the dog is so peaceful that he lets it sleep.
After about an hour, the dog wakes up, stretches again, goes to the door, and waits. The man lets him out. The dog shakes his tail, gives the man a grateful look, and leaves. This goes on for days. Every afternoon, the same mysterious visitor arrives, takes a nap on the couch, and disappears again before anyone can discover where he really lives.
The man gets curious and finally decides he has to solve the mystery. One afternoon, he puts a note on the dog’s collar: “Your dog takes a nap at my house every day. I’m happy to let him rest, but I’d really like to know where he lives and why he keeps coming here.”
The next day, the dog comes back with another note attached to his collar. The man eagerly removes it and reads: “He lives in a house with four children. He is trying to catch up on his sleep.”
The man laughs as he imagines the poor dog trying to survive the daily chaos of four energetic children. Then he reads the final line of the note and suddenly understands why the dog has become such a regular guest:
“Can I come with him tomorrow?”
# The Ski Trip, The Widow, And The Unexpected Inheritance
Jack decided to go skiing with his buddy, Bob. They loaded up in Jack’s minivan and headed north, looking forward to a quiet weekend on the slopes, a little adventure, and plenty of stories to tell when they got back.
After driving for a few hours, they got caught in a terrible blizzard. The snow became so heavy that they could barely see the road ahead of them. The wind howled around the van, and eventually they realized that continuing to drive was becoming dangerous. With no other option, they pulled into a nearby farm and knocked on the door.
An attractive woman answered. Jack explained their situation and asked if they could spend the night somewhere on the property. “I realize it’s terrible weather out there, and I have this huge house all to myself, but I’m recently widowed,” she explained. “I’m afraid the neighbors will talk if I let two strange men stay in my house.”
Jack immediately understood her concern. “Don’t worry,” he said. “We’ll be happy to sleep in the barn. And if the weather breaks, we’ll be gone at first light.”
The lady agreed, and the two men found their way to the barn. They settled in for the night, grateful to have a roof over their heads and somewhere safe to wait out the storm. The wind continued to howl outside, but eventually both men fell asleep.
Come morning, the weather had cleared, and the two friends got on their way. They enjoyed a great weekend of skiing and eventually returned home, thinking the strange encounter with the attractive widow was nothing more than an amusing story from an otherwise ordinary trip.
About nine months later, however, Jack got an unexpected letter from an attorney.
At first, he couldn’t imagine why a lawyer would be contacting him. He opened the letter, read it once, then read it again. It took him a few minutes to figure it out, but he finally determined that it was from the attorney of the attractive widow he had met during the ski weekend.
Jack immediately dropped in on his friend Bob.
“Bob, do you remember that good-looking widow from the farm where we stayed during the snowstorm?”
“Yes, I do,” Bob replied.
“Did you happen to get up in the middle of the night, go up to the house, and pay her a visit?”
Bob looked uncomfortable. After a long pause, he finally admitted, “Yes. I have to admit that I did.”
Jack stared at him.
“And did you happen to use my name instead of telling her your real name?”
Bob’s face turned red. He looked down at the floor and slowly nodded.
“Yeah,” he said. “Sorry, buddy. I’m afraid I did. Why do you ask?”
Jack held up the letter and smiled.
“She just died,” he said.
Bob’s face went pale.
Jack continued, “And she left me everything.”
