Photo: Worthpoint

As a newlywed, when my in-laws were visiting us in Toronto, I picked up a slightly crushed box of Enterprise-D  blueprints at a big discount, and proudly showed my prize to my father-in-law.

His face brightened, apparently thinking I was *giving* them to him.

During the awkward pause that resulted, he reasoned that I was expecting him to *pay* me for them, so he took out his wallet. He happily took the blueprints back to his hotel room, then on to his home in Texas. I hadn’t even looked at them all yet!

After he died about 10 years ago, I saw the familiar box on the shelf in his study. I asked my mother-in-law if I could have it, and now it’s in my study.