The dream was set in the present day, but my maternal grandparents were still alive. I was in a library in Kansas City researching the business my great-grandfather and his brothers ran, Benson Manufacturing Company (unrelated to the current companies of that name). As I was digging into newspaper archives and other sources, I discovered that he and my great-grandmother had left my sisters and I each a considerable sum of money when she passed away over 25 years ago, but we hadn’t received it. My grandmother explained that she had thought we would just squander the money, so she’d kept it safe. Since we found out about it, she gave us each a check.
My grandfather asked what I was going to do with the money. I told him that I would buy a house, and quit my job in order to go back to school full time. He didn’t approve of that plan, though he didn’t tell me what he thought I should do.