usually my grandmother comes to taipei on a slow train three or four times a year. she is eighty-three years old and still very healthy and active. her eyes and mind are still as clear and fast as her small great-grandchildren. one day we agreed to go home with my grandmother by car on the freeway. she was very ecited and kept talking about everything she saw and heard. she talked about the flowers on the small bushes we passed and how smooth the car ride was. she commented about the toll charge and that the freeway was the best road she had traveled on in her life. by the time she got home she was still talking about how fast she got home.