Making giving an art
A Susanfriend removed most of the lightbulbs in her basement, because she could save a few dollars on her electric bill. She kept a flashlight at the top of the stairs but forgot to mention that. Damn near killed myself going down there in the dark! "Everybody's cheap about something!", she said as she offered a makeshift icebag for my knee. I wondered what my thing was, but I'm a hypocrite, so think of myself as "frugal"—while other people are cheap . What's being cheap? Cheapness resides more often in the eye of the receiver than the donor. Rachel gave me a 4/5 full bottle of perfume that she knew I wore, but on her smelled like "the bottom of my granny's purse"—and I was thrilled. But when a neighbour arrived for a holiday dinner and proffered a a bottle of wine with one-third missing because "I wanted some with my lunch", it felt cheap. But I don't really care; let him have his wine. What gets my Irish up is when peo...
