The Gift That Kept on Giving

On Sunday, Dorothy showed up while I was unloading book boxes from the back of Medicine Man's station wagon. She helped me bring them in.

"Why don't you pick out some books for your niece's kids?" She liked that idea. I got her a plastic bag and she picked out some books. I saw her out on the street with the bag the next day.

Last night she ran into me at the corner. "You know those kids over there?" she said, pointing kitty-corner across the street. "I gave them those books, and they said to tell you they want more."

So I put down my groceries in the house, picked out a bagful of books and went over. The people who live there have two grandchildren who stay with them. We'll call them Nay-Nay and Brandon. There were four or five adults sitting around the kitchen table. Their mother was at the head. We hadn't met before.

"Can you make sure they are always first in line when you have books?" she asked, but in a commanding tone. I saluted her and said "aye-aye" but with my fingers crossed behind my back, since so many kids here need books. But these two are high on the list.

"Fantastic Four!" one of the guys at the opposite end of the table cried. He looked about as excited as Brandon was.

They wanted more books with black people in them, of course. When I bought books last fall I looked for them, but this time I had to take what I was given. There were a few in there, but not enough.

The kids asked to come back to my house and look through the boxes themselves. I said yes. "Strawberry Shortcake!" yelled Nay-Nay. She cleaned me out, saying she would give the extra copies to friends at school. That seemed like a good idea. Peer-to-peer distribution seems like it would be most effective.

They ended up taking about half the books with them, in two boxes. While holding both boxes, Brandon fell on the ice while I was trying to get the gate open, but he was OK. I told him to stop being a macho man and let us carry them. His sister and I each took a box for about half a block, then he took the heavy one back and she took the lighter one.

Brandon wants to bake cookies this weekend, or at least get a recipe. A recipe I can manage for sure. I need to clean house before we take on a baking endeavor.