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“So, what's happening, Grandma? You're glowing!”
“Am I?”
Eight-year-old Gracie Trent was quite observant, and she had noticed the aftermath of the deeper reconciliation between her Stepforth grandparents on the features of Mrs. Velma Stepforth.
Gracie was a precocious eight-year-old, but still just eight; decades of understanding were too much for her, so her grandmother put it in terms that she could grasp.
“I just figured out something that will make your grandfather's life much happier, and he's very happy about it, and grateful, so, it just feels really good.”
“Ain't it the truth,” Gracie said as she bopped up onto her grandmother's lap with a big smile. “I love making people and animals' lives better too, and it does feel good!”
“I understand that both Goody and Goldie are rescue animals,” Mrs. Stepforth said.
“Yes, and there's a little mouse out there living free, too,” Gracie said. “Now, people are kinda complicated because we need so much stuff, but it just takes actually caring about people.”
“I'mma be like your Grandma Gladys: ain't it the truth,” Mrs. Stepforth said.
“Like this bank robbery thing everybody is trying to figure out,” Gracie said. “The problem seems to be that somebody fumbled a $11.5 billion bag, but, see, the thing is, they should have gone to Goodwill in the first place for that bag and then they wouldn't have needed to rob a bank.”
“It ain't a Birkin or Gucci bag kind of party, huh?” Mrs. Stepforth said, with a big smile.
“It's like you've been teaching us all our lives: when you live right, you just don't need all this stuff,” Gracie said. “Grandma Gladys basically says the same thing, but like this: it's a bag. It doesn't make the person carrying it any richer.”
“Right, and if you are not careful, you could fumble about $11.5 billion, trying to impress folks,” Mrs. Stepforth said.
“All they had to do is go to Goodwill, or maybe have Edwina set them up on Poshmark, and no one would have been in trouble, so, what I'm doing is getting ready to explain all this to Cousin Tom so he can put it in the Lofton County Free Voice so people know what to do next time.”
“You know, you really should talk with your Cousin Vertran, because 'Stuff that Grandparents Say that can Help the World' might be a great show online and reach a lot more people,” Mrs. Stepforth said. “Have his business manager talk to your business manager, and y'all can split the revenue.”
“You sound more like Pop-Pop today,” Gracie said.
“Well, I've been married to him a long time, and I'm learning that one of the ways I can show him I love him is to try to look at the world like he does sometimes – after all, he knows where Goodwill is, and hasn't fumbled a $3.75 billion bag, and pulled his family back together, and so you know, maybe he's on to something.”
“I think so,” Gracie said. “I enjoyed visiting both your houses, but it's way better now, so let's just keep it like this.”
“I agree,” Mrs. Stepforth said. “You go on and talk with Vertran and work your new show out, and then come back to Pop-Pop and me with it.”
“OK,” Gracie said, and kissed her grandmother's glowing cheek before her grandfather, having heard the conversation, finally stepped into the room.
“I didn't know you keep up with all that,” he said with a smile.
“I didn't,” she said, “but I said I would, and I will.”
Now, he was glowing, and then caused her to glow some more.
“Many members of my family are into arts and crafts; it's just a side of me I've never explored … but I would love for you to show me the difference between watercolor, acrylic, and oil paint, like you have shown little Velma.”
“You know,” eleven-year-old Velma said later on, “I think Pop-Pop is really enjoying discovering his artistic side. He and Grandma are just out there glowing, and I think I'm just going to paint them while they are doing that.”
“That will make a great feature for the show Gracie and I are putting together, too!” nine-year-old Vertran said.
