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Sally loved a freebie. She would clip coupons, save points, paste stamps into booklets and enter endless contests, all in the quest for the elusive freebie. And she did pretty well. She would just about skip the quarter mile down the long driveway everyday in anticipation of another treasure showing up in the mailbox. ###A strand of Sally’s blond hair fell across her smiling face as she unboxed her latest find. “It’s like Christmas in July” she said in a slightly raspy voice which was reminiscent of Marge Simpson’s. “But what are you gonna do with all this crap?” said her husband, Russ. “Everything has a use, nothing will go to waste” Sally replied, still smiling. ### Even though he would never admit it to her, Russ admired his wife’s thrift and ingenuity. She saved and reused everything. Christmas cards were recycled into next year’s gift tags, bits of string and paper were all saved and repurposed. Sally made most of her own clothes and almost nobody knew it. She fed and raised a family of four on a $35 a week grocery budget, augmented by a little garden on the south side of the garage. She had done so much with so little, Russ couldn’t deny her this little pleasure.###Poorly differentiated, squamous cell, stage 4 oropharynx cancer is what they called it, “Six weeks tops is the best prognosis I can give you” said the doctor. She lasted five.###A week and a half after Sally’s death, a package arrived at the mailbox. Russ thought of her smile and that wayward strand of hair as he opened it up. It was a half-gallon “Marlboro Gear” insulated thermos cooler.### A tear rolled down his cheek. Not the first, and certainly not the last. Maybe I will put her ashes in it, he thought. She would have liked that.