It's not what's on the fashionable outside that's important. It's what you can store on the inside that truly matters.

Brant opened the door and smiled wide at Nestoras, who greeted him back with crossed arms and a sharply v-shaped unibrow. "Hey there, Super. What can I do for you?"

"You've got a dog in here. Building rules say no pets without a deposit."

"What?" Brant shook his head. "I dunno what you're talking about, man. We're not keeping any dog in our apartment."

Nestoras pointed down the hall. "Your neighbors have called the building manager twice complaining of hearing a dog barking in your unit, so she sent me up here to check. Now where is the beast?" He poked his head in to get a better view. "I'll tell you right now, I don't like dogs, so if you do, you'd better have it locked up in a kennel or something."

Brant stepped back and motioned for Nestoras to come inside. "Go ahead and check, but you're just wasting your time."

Nestoras cautiously walked in and looked around. There was no evidence of any dog that he could see, no fur, no carpet stands, no raw hide bone. He sniffed the air and smelled nothing remotely dog-like. As far as he could tell, the apartment looked almost the same as the last time he'd answered a maintenance call. The only difference was what seemed to be a new Storage Bench in the living room.

"I bet I know what it was," Brant said. "Leslie and I were watching several of those puppy movies. You know, the ones about the golden retrievers that are really good at sports? My wife, she's really into those films and, well, I guess we had the volume a little too high. You know how it is."

Nestoras spun on his heels and glared at Brant. "No. No, I don't know how it is. I hate dogs, and I hate movies about dogs. Got it?"

"Right. Of course. Totally forgot. Sorry."

Nestoras eyed Brant suspiciously and then walked toward the door. "I'll tell the building manager I didn't see any mutt in your apartment," he said. He turned toward Brant just as he stepped into the hallway. "Your lease states you have to inform management and pay any pet-related deposits before acquiring a dog. If I find out you're hiding one, there will be fines..."

"Okay, thanks!" Brant quickly shut the door, rushed over to the Storage Bench, and opened the hinged top to reveal the new, still-strangely unnamed puppy sitting happily on the blankets and pillows within. He scooped up the pup and let it happily lick his face. "Good boy," he said. "Good quiet boy."

Brant would get around to paying the deposits eventually but, for now, he was pretty proud of himself. He'd have been even prouder if the puppy hadn't messed the quilt he'd been resting on.

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