The telephone rang and Carl answered it. He did not recognize the name of the person on the other end, but he heard the voice say, "Carl J. Newsome?"

"Yes, this is Carl J. Newsome."

"Well, I have a $50,000 check for you," the voice announced.

Now Carl was a wise consumer and the first thing he thought was that this was one of those telemarketing prize scams for a land development company.

"Carl, did you hear me? This is Randolph Carter, attorney. Are you there?"

Carl sat down. This didn't sound like a scam.

The attorney continued: "You have been named in the will of the local industrialist Peter Townsend who recently passed away. He has left you $50,000."

"Why would he leave me such a large sum of money? I don't even know him," Carl replied.

"Well, he knows you," the lawyer continued, "and there's no mistake about it, it's your money. I'll give you a phone number to call to arrange delivery of the check."

After Carl took down all of the information and hung up the phone, he raced to the stack of last week's newspapers. Turning to the obituary pages he saw a photo of Peter Townsend. It was "Old Pete!" That's the only way Carl had ever known him. He had stopped regularly in the barber shop where Carl had worked for more than 20 years, always asking for Carl to cut his hair. During all those years, Carl and Old Pete had probably talked about everything under the sun and solved all the problems of the world--more than once!

One thing they never talked about was Old Pete's business. The barber shop was an escape for Old Pete, and Carl had respected his wishes.

When the check was delivered, the attorney told Carl that he had been the most loyal person Peter Townsend had ever met--a person Old Pete could count on more than his business partners, all his acquaintances and even his family.

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