JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. What's on your mind today?
JOE: I was just thinking of something I observed yesterday.
CALLIOPE: Tell me.
JOE: It's a short story with a simple moral.
CALLIOPE: Okay.
JOE: I was walking down Clay Street in LeRoy yesterday to deliver some muffins Carol made for her brother when I came across an empty parked mail truck.
CALLIOPE: Is that it?
JOE: Hardly. I saw the mailman leaving one house and entering the neighboring yard. An unchained collie waited for him at the edge of its property.
CALLIOPE: Collies can be very gentle but also fiercely protective.
JOE: My thoughts precisely.
CALLIOPE: And then?
JOE: The collie met the mailman, fell in alongside him and walked with him as if the two were fast friends. The mailman deposited the mail and left several bits of kibble on the porch step. The collie ate the kibble and the mailman proceeded on his way.
CALLIOPE: And the moral.
JOE: When you have messages to deliver, make sure you have something the gatekeepers want if you wish to be well received. Talk with you tomorrow.