Thatβs what I tell people who say Iβm too old to do this or that. I say, βHide
and watch me!β Iβm eighty-two. So what? Thatβs nothing but a number. I can go
and do just about as good as I could thirty years ago.
For my eightieth birthday, I decided I wanted to get in on all this Internet
stuff the kids are doing. So I asked for a computer. My niece Jennaβshe lives
with me, you knowβsaid, βNow, Aunt Bess, you donβt need a computer. You can use
mine.β
βWell, I donβt want to use yours,β I said. βI want my own.β
So she and her daughter Amy and my granddaughter Jackie all went in together and
bought me this little laptop. Thatβs what they call it. Itβs a computer you can
put on your lap. But if you put it on your lap and donβt have a tray or
something underneath it, itβs gonna get your legs hot, Iβll tell you that. And
thatβs not necessarily a bad thing in the winter, but Iβd rather not burn up in
the summer. Thatβs why I had Jackie go over to the store and get me this
contraption that has a wooden top like a desk and a beanbag bottom. Itβs nice.
Itβs curved to fit around your middle, so you can plop your laptop right down on
that desk of a thing and surf around that Internet all day or until a good
program comes on, you decide youβd rather be reading, or your battery
diesβwhichever comes first.
One of the sites I like is the Pinterest. Do yβall have the Pinterest? Itβs a
wonderful thing. You sign up for an accountβfor free, they donβt charge you a
thingβand they let you make what they call boards. You give these boards names
and then you can put pictures up on them. For instance, one of my boards is
called People Iβve Outlived. That can be a sad, sad board. It has
pictures of Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, Cary Grant, one of the neighbor
women, Princess Diana and Robin Williams (those two purt near broke my heart
when I added them), and Saddam Hussein. It didnβt really bother me too awful
much to put him up on the board. I didnβt know him, and they said on the news
that he was real mean.
I have this other board called Things Iβd Love to Eat. Thatβs one of my
favorites. If youβve never been to the Pinterest, they have the biggest bunch of
recipes you ever did see. They have recipes for specific diets, foods you can
make in a hurry, party foods, and desserts. I love desserts. Iβve pinned me a
whole slew of desserts on my Things Iβd Love to Eat board. The thing
is, Amy and Jackie use that board to see what I might want to have when they
come over to cook me and Jenna Sunday lunch.
One time, Amy asked me, βAunt Bess, you do know there are other foods out there
besides dessert, donβt you?β
I told her, βYes, maβam, I do, but Iβm eighty-two years old. And if I want to
have a meal thatβs all desserts, by crackie, Iβll have it.β
She laughed and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Sheβll be old one of these days,
and Iβll remind her of that little remark about the desserts.
At first Lou Lou refuses to sell, but when she seems ready to make a deal,
she tells Amy to come see her. Showing up at the eatery ready to negotiate,
Amy is shocked to find her former employer murdered. As the prime suspect, Amy
will have to clear her name by serving up the real killerβand with Lou Louβs
stack of enemies, thatβs a tall order.
I live in Virginia with my family, which includes her own βAngusβ
who is not an Irish wolfhound but a Great Pyrenees who provides plenty of
inspiration for the character of Mr. OβRuff.
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