I have a friend (Maggie) in NYC that was asked by her elderly grand-mother to check-in on the grandma's just as elderly basset hound while the grandma was down in Florida for some R&R. After a few days of schlepping to the upper East side and walking and feeding the dog, Maggie shows up one morning to find that the dog has passed.

Unsure what to do, Maggie calls her mother in Staten Island to see if she should call grandma, arrange for cremation, call the supper -- she just didn’t know. The mother says not to bother grandma -- just to bring it to Staten Island and they will bury it in the backyard -- that way grandma can visit when she gets back.

Now basset hounds aren’t the smallest of dogs, so all Maggie could find to hold it was a rolling suitcase -- she unceremoniously stuffs the dog inside the suitcase, cleans up grandma’s co-op and proceeds to head for Staten Island. Figuring the cheapest and easiest way to get to mom’s would be the subway to the ferry, she heads for the subway with suitcase in hand. She catches a train and everything is going fine…

When she exists the train she finds herself faced with dragging the suitcase up a flight of stairs -- as she struggles, a gentleman offers to assist -- and she thankfully agrees.

He asks “This bad sure is heavy -- what is in it?”

Not wanting to say “grandma’s recently deceased pup,” she lies and tells him “just some laptops from work that I’m bringing home to work on…”

When they get to the top of the stairs, Maggie starts to thank him for his assistance, but before she could get the “th..” out of her mouth, the gentleman turns and punches her in the face, knocking her down and making off with the “laptops.”

Thankfully, Maggie is fine -- some bruising, some concern over what grandma will say -- but otherwise enjoying the hell out of wondering what the scumbag thought when he opened the suitcase and hoping he went straight to a pawn shop with his ill-gotten goods.