Joe was a 35 year old bachelor. His one interest in life was his cat, Max. He had been avoiding a business trip for months because he didn't trust anyone to watch Max for him. Finally his boss told him that he HAD to make a trip to the other coast for over two weeks. In desperation he called his brother.

"You've got to take care of Max," he told his brother. "No problem," his brother said absently. "No I'm serious. You have to take care, good care of Max."

Filled with trepidations, he left for California leaving Max with his brother. As soon as the bell hop dropped his bags and closed the door he was on the phone to his brother.

"How's Max doing," He asked. "Max died," his brother said.

He dropped the phone without saying another word. He was barely able to handle his work for two days and was in a daze the rest of the time. Finally, he calls his brother back.

"I have to say this. Don't interrupt," he began. "Max was very special to me. How could you just blurt out, 'he's dead'? You could at least have broken it to me gently. You could have begun with, 'Max is on the roof, but don't worry, we'll get him down,' and then when I called next you could have told me, 'Max is at the vet, but we think everything will be ok,' and then the next time I called, "Max passed away quietly this morning.'"

"You're right," his brother admitted, "I should have thought it out more. I'm sorry."

"Good. At least we got that straight!" He said, "How's mom?"

"Mom's up on the roof..." his brother began.