The Shoebox

A  man and woman had been married for more than 60 years.

Throughout their marriage, they had  kept no secrets from each other except  for a shoe box kept in her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her  about.

Shortly after her 83rd birthday, the  woman got sick, and her doctor said she would not recover.

In trying to sort out their affairs, the old man  carried the shoe box to his wife’s bedside.

She agreed that, given her illness, he should open the box.  As he lifted the lid, he saw two crocheted dolls and a brown paper bag.

Picking up the dolls, he asked her about them.

“When we first married,” she explained, “my grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was never to argue.  She said that, if I ever got angry with you, I  should just keep quiet and crochet a doll.”

The old  man was so moved, he had to fight back tears . . . only two precious dolls were in the box.

She had only been angry with him twice in all those years.  He almost burst with happiness.

“Honey, that explains the dolls, but what’s in the bag?”

“Open it.”

He unfolded the bag, opened it, and saw a huge stack of money ~ thousands of dollars!

Shocked, he exclaimed, “Look at all this money!  Where did it come  from?”

“That’s the money I made from selling the dolls.”

Aah . . . that’s better!

You knew there had to be a hook in here somewhere, didn’t you?

Inspiration:  e-mail from unknown author