Family Gift
Published Jan 01, 1900
My parents received a set of two horrible bedside table lamps as a wedding present from a distant aunt. They didn't like them, so they bought a nicer set themselves. But a few years later, the aunt came to a family celebration, so my mother quickly installed auntie's lamp and hid the usual ones under the bed. When time came to show her around the house, my mother said, "Come and see how nice your lamps look in our bedroom." She turned on the switch on the wall -- and suddenly an intense luminosity emerged from under the bed....
Originally published November 14, 2002.
