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As though the very idea bored her, she said, "I usually get my clothes fro new," I countered She shrugged again "Can we see Grandma Hoffman today?"

I smiled, touched by the affection she felt for ift for both of them And forto arrange a second trip "Sure," I said "We’ll do that"

"Okay" She ate her breakfast, disappeared for ten o

"I still need to put on er to reach the beautiful stage, although I didn’t point that out "By the way, Margaret and her fa, so we’ll pick up dessert on the way ho for dinner?" Brad asked

"No, Julia’s got a softball ga by for dessert afterward"

"What kind of dessert?" Cody asked, co biscuit

"I ordered an ice crea in approval "Good idea, Mo a cake when it was so easy to bake one, but ice crea rooh I was curious, I didn’t ask what it contained Nor did she tell me

"Can we see Grandma Hoffarage and onto the street

"That’s f ine" The assisted living complex wasn’t far from the mall

We parked, and Casey was out of the car before I could even unfasten erness was quite a contrast to Cody’s discomfort He’d been to visit rew bored After ten or f ifteen minutes he was ready to leave I hadn’t phoned ahead and hoped ouldn’t be interrupting anything I found Mo the Food Channel as usual She had a pen and pad in hand and see to write down the instructions I hadn’t seen her do that in some time Over the past few years, she’d f illed several spiral-bound notebooks with carefully detailed recipes, but she hadn’t done it recently Often, e spoke on the phone, it was about these wonderful cooks and the recipes they’d de family dinners, and it hurt me that this small joy had been taken away from her

When Casey and I entered the aparthtened, then iotten Casey’s nanized her face

"Casey and I thought we’d stop by for a quick visit," I said,her name so Mo out her hand Casey plopped down on the f loor, sitting cross-legged next to Moift," she said

"Me?"

"Yes" Casey bobbed her head "We made them at day camp this summer and I want you to have it so you’ll remember me"

Mo

"What could it be?" she asked pensively

Casey knelt in front of her as she opened the plain brown sack Inside was a photograph of Casey wearing a baseball cap, with her ar into the camera The picture was set inside a plastic canvas frame into which Casey had woven blue and teal yarn

To my utter amazement my mother blinked back tears "How nice," she whispered

"It’s got a e," Casey explained, turning it over so Mom could see I don’t think she noticed how emotional my mother had become or, if she did, Casey chose to pretend otherwise "Would you like e for you?"

Mom nodded When Casey moved into the kitchen, Mom dabbed at her eyes with the handkerchief she always tucked in her sweater pocket

"That was a lovely thing to do," I said, joining Casey in the kitchen I put my arm around her shoulders but I could tell she didn’t want o

"You don’t ave it to Grandma Hoffman rather than you?" she asked a little anxiously

I assured her I didn’t "It’s a lovely photo and you can see how much it means to my mother"

For the f irst tienuine s to miss everyone… I think your rand to re close to Mom’s lunch and after that she’d nap for an hour or two Once we got to the mall, our f irst stop was the Sears store, where I traditionally purchased Cody’s school clothes I’d read their two-page advertise and noticed that all boys’ jeans were on sale

"You should buy hireen T-shirt with some monster character printed on the front

Cody had been wearing e where he wanted to wear anything with Disney characters, but I wasn’t really familiar with any appropriate alternatives

"He’d like that?" I asked

"He’d love it," Casey said conf idently

"All right, then Put it on the stack"

Casey did and then glanced at another one

"Do you see anything else he ht like?"

She nodded "Lots"

"Are they on sale, too?"

Casey pointed at the sign Fifty percent off Together we chose three other shirts and one good pair of pants and a button-down shirt for church She picked out a winter coat, although it wasn’t anything I would’ve selected