When my cuz took me to dinner a couple weeks ago she pulled out her Kindle to show me. I swooned.
We talked a little about books and she asked me if I had read Stieg Larsson's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (and the other Girl book), and I asked her if she had read anything by Lorrie Moore. I hadn't and she hadn't, so she offered to send me the Girl books. I said, "Oh, no. Don't do that. Katy made me order Birds of America and it's waiting at the library already, so I'll pick up a Girl book there too."
During the past few weeks I had lots of e-mails like this one from my cuz:
Please let me know what practical help I can be when you figure that out. I am an excellent mover, packer, organizer, lunch bringer and drink pourer.
Then I got a phone call from her. I stepped outside my mom's room to talk. Things weren't going so well and she asked again what she could do. I didn't know! There really was nothing!
She asked if she could send anything. I thought of the books she had offered to send, and said, "Don't send those books. They're waiting at the library for me." But then I lightened up for a moment: "You could send me a Kindle. One just like yours." (That was the bratty little cousin coming out, the one who always begged to tag along to the Beatles movies with Carol and her pals and who sulked when she wasn't allowed.)
Guess what was waiting for me when I got home last night?
p.s. That's our grandmother (my mother's mother, Carol's father's mother) in the gold frame.
