As retold by Bruce Lowitt

Three men on the beach in Miami.

"I had a lumber business," Sid says. "Huge inventory. Then one night a fire swept through my yard, leaving me nothing to sell but ashes. So I collected the insurance, and here I am."

"Really?" Bernie says. "I had a paper supply house. One night the sprinkler system accidentally goes off, soaks all my inventory, and here I am in Florida with my settlement."

"I was a tailor making nice shirts in Hawaii," Joel, says. "Suddenly a hurricane hit and blew all my inventory out to sea. Like you, I collected my insurance and here I sit."

The other guys look at each other, then Bernie says, "How do you start a hurricane?"