Liberal Forum

A guy calls his brother, Bill, and asks if he'll watch his house (collect mail, make sure heater is working, feed cat) while he and his wife go on vacation. His brother agrees to do it. Four days later the guy calls his brother to check up on things. "How's everything goin' there?" he asked.

"Good,

"Is Fluffy eating everything you put down for her?"

"Not anymore. Fluffy's dead."

There was a long moment of silence. "But, how . . ."

"Hit by a car."

More silence. And then, "Damn it, Bill. You could have broken it to us lightly. Like you might have told me that she's up on the roof and we can't get her down. The next day you could have called and said that she slipped off the roof and broke a bone and is at the vet's. And the next day you could have said that she died painlessly in her sleep."

More silence. Finally "I'm sorry," Bill said. "You're right. That was pretty insensitive of me. I should have thought."

"Well, I'll tell Sue.  I'll call you in a couple of days."

So he calls Bill in a couple of days and asks how things are. Bill reports that everything at the house is fine. The guy then asks him how their mom is doing.

And Bill says, "Uh, she's up on the roof and we can't get her down."