83-year-old Agatha Stones was a woman who had given birth to four kids. When these kids grew up, they all moved away from home to start their own lives.

All of Agatha’s kids had become mostly interested in material things but ignored the importance of family. “Business has been a lot, mom,” the eldest, Brian, would say. Sally, John and Mary were in their late 30s and had yet to settle down. It hurt Agatha that none of her four kids remembered to visit her or even call her.

One day, she was complaining about it to her friend Sharon. “I just don’t understand why these kids don’t want to return home to spend time with me,” she said.

“Is that what is eating you?” her friend asked.

“Yes, it is,” Agatha said. “My lawyer has asked me to write my will (遗嘱). I have no idea how I’ll share the little I have among all four of my kids.”

“I know what you can do to determine that,” Sharon proudly said. And then, she offered Agatha a shocking plan.

A couple of days later, a piece of news came: Agatha suddenly fell ill and was hospitalized. Despite that, none of her four kids visited her. A few more days later, all four children received a message stating that their mom had passed away. Within hours, they all arrived home to discuss how they would share the inheritance (遗产).

Suddenly, a voice cut through the discussion. “Will you guys give all that a rest and focus on what has brought us all together? The death of our mother!” the youngest daughter, Mary, shouted. There was a brief pause at her outburst, but as soon as the silence was broken by a phone buzzing, they went on.

Unknown to them, Sharon was listening in on their conversation and, after a few minutes, she walked into the room, and told them to enter another room to say their final goodbyes to their mother.

When Brian entered the room, he was terribly shocked.

“But I believe in you all, so I hope that this has taught you a lesson,” she continued.

Long ago there was a king who had twin sons. There was some confusion about which one was born first. As they grew up, the king found a fair way to decide one of them as crown (皇冠) prince.

Calling them together, he said seriously, “My sons, the day will come when one of you must be the future king. The burdens (负担) of being a king are very heavy. To find out which of you is better able to bear (承担) them cheerfully, I am sending you together to a far corner of the kingdom. One of my advisors there will place equal burdens on your shoulders (肩膀). My crown will one day go to the one who returns first bearing his burden like a king should.”

In a spirit of the friendly competition, the brothers set out together. Soon they met a weak and old woman struggling under a heavy weight. One of the boys suggested that they stop to help her. The other protested: “We have a burden of our own to worry about. Let us be on our way.”

So the second son hurried on while the other stayed behind to help the woman with her load. On his journey to the kingdom, the same young man found others who needed help. A blind man who needed help to get home; a lost child whom he carried back to her worried parents; a farmer whose wagon (马车) needed a strong shoulder to push it out of the mud.

Eventually he did reach his father’s advisor. There he gained his own burden and started home with it safely on his shoulders.

When he arrived back at the palace, his father and brother met him at the gate.

The future king replied thoughtfully.

When the last customer left, it was already 10:30 pm. Eric, an 18-year-old college student in Atlanta, dragged himself home. In order to save money to buy himself the new mountain bike, he had been working at KFC for over a month that summer vacation. He already had 120 dollars. With one more week, he would have his dream bike.

Entering his room, Eric found his younger brother Bill sitting on the edge of his bed with an uneasy expression on his face.

“Sorry, Eric. I ... I did something wrong,” Bill sprang up and said nervously.

“What is it?”

“This afternoon I went to play football on the road outside our house and accidentally hit our neighbor Mr. White’s car. I was so scared and I ... I hurried home in panic without telling him.”

“Is the car seriously damaged?”

“The ball hit the front hard and the left headlight of it got broken.”

“It’s truly your fault. It’s really dangerous to play football on the road. What’s worse, you shouldn’t come back without telling Mr. Smith about it,” Eric raised his voice, obviously annoyed. Hearing this, Bill lowered his head and bit his lips hard.

“Anyway, it’s no use crying over spilt milk. And it is too late today. We have to deal with it tomorrow. Now you just go to bed.”

When Bill went bed, Eric couldn’t go to sleep himself. Father always told him to be honest, to be a man respected by people and to be an example of his brother. He was sorry for his brother’s behavior. He shouldn’t have run away after he did something wrong. But he could understand him. Anyway, he was only a boy of seven and what had happened really scared him. But as his elder brother, he should do something about it although this may delay his plan of having the mountain bike. “Nothing serious, just another week in KFC,” he said to himself.

Eric got up early the next morning.

Mr. Smith was a little surprised to see the brothers.

My best friend, Cocoa, and I live in a senior-citizen apartment complex in a lovely small town. Cocoa is a ten-year-old poodle(卷毛狗) and I am a sixty-nine-year-old lady, so you can see we both qualify as senior citizens.

Years ago, I promised myself that when I retired I would get a chocolate poodle to share my golden years. From the very beginning, Cocoa has always been exceptionally well-behaved. I never have to tell him anything more than once. He is extremely neat—when taking toys from his box to play, he always puts them back when he is finished. I have been accused of being obsessively neat, and sometimes I wonder if he mimics me or if he was born that way, too.

He is a wonderful companion. When I throw a ball for him, he picks it up in his mouth and gives it back to me. He does many amusing things that make me laugh, and when that happens, he is so delighted that he just keeps it up. I enjoy his company very much.

But almost two years ago, Cocoa did something that challenged comprehension. Was it a miracle or a coincidence? It is certainly a mystery.

One afternoon, Cocoa started acting strangely. I was sitting on the floor playing with him when he started pawing and sniffing at the right side of my chest. He had never done anything like this before, and I told him, “No.” Usually, one “no” is sufficient, but not that day. He stopped briefly, then suddenly ran toward me from the other side of the room, throwing his entire weight—eighteen pounds—at the right side of my chest. He crashed into me and I yelled in pain. It hurt more than I thought it would have.

Soon after this, I felt a lump (肿瘤). I went to the doctors, and after X-rays, tests and lab work were done, they told me I had cancer.

When cancer starts, a wall of calcium(钙) builds to which the lump or cancer attaches itself.

Was Cocoa just aware of what he was doing?