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"Having family members make final

arrangements is one of the biggest rip-offs. You need to make your arrangements when you're alive. Don't be afraid to think ahead, Crystal. Never let anyone intimidate you into thinking you're being too practical. You can never be too practical:' he instructed.

Thelma's parents had asked us to stop over at their house when we were finished shopping for my school things. They said they had something they wanted to give me. As we drove there, Karl reminded Thelma of the time and how long he wanted us to stay.

My new grandparents had a small but cozy ranch- style home. Thelma said that Karl had found it for them shortly after her father retired.

"It fit their new budget perfectly," he said with pride. "That's another thing you can't think about too soon: your retirement. Most people don't put away enough and suffer because of it."

"But not us:' Thelma chimed.

"No, not us," Karl agreed with a smile.

What my grandparents had for me was a brown leather briefcase with my name embroidered in gold letters on the outside. I was more pleased with it than anything else I had gotten that day.

"It wasn't necessary to buy real leather, Martha," Karl told my grandmother,

"Of course it was," she replied, and smiled at me. "Why shouldn't she have the nicest things?"

We had tea, and Grandma served her homemade sugar cookies, which I thought were delicious. Then she told stories about her days at school. She had attended a smaller, rural school. She talked about how she had to walk almost a mile and a half to get there.

"Even in the snow!"

"Even in the snow because we didn't have school- buses like you do now."

Grandpa tried to match her stories with his own, and she kept correcting him and saying he was exaggerating. They were both funny and delightful. I was really beginning to enjoy myself when Karl announced it was time to go home.

"Tomorrow's her first day at a new school," he declared when my grandmother complained we hadn't even been there an hour. "She needs an early night."

"Well, you call me as soon as you can afterward and tell me all about your first day, Crystal," Grandma said.

"I will. Thank you again for the briefcase," I said.

She hugged me. "Our pleasure. We don't have much to spend our money on these days but medicines and such."

"You've got the best health plan," Karl said.

"Oh, I don't want to talk about that," Grandma said quickly. "Now that we have a granddaughter, I don't want to talk about my ailments."

We said good night and left.

"If they didn't have the plan I got them," Karl muttered when we got into the car, "she would be bankrupt paying for that heart medicine. Those prescriptions are very expensive."

"She knows," Thelma said. "She's just excited about Crystal. As we all are," she added. "I wish I could attend class with you tomorrow, Crystal. I wish I was starting over again."

"It's not easy to change schools," Karl said. "It's nothing to envy?'

"I know. Did you ever read Love on Wheels, about that family that lives in a motor home and has to go from place to place, town to town, following farm work?"

"No," I replied.

"Just when Stacy finds the love of her life, she has to leave him. give it to you," Thelma promised. "In fact, you should read all my books. Then we could talk about them, about all my special people. Wouldn't that be nice?"

I didn't answer fast enough.

"She'll have too much to do now that school's starting," Karl said, corning to my rescue.

"She has to have time off, doesn't she? What's a better way to spend it than reading?" Thelma countered.