Bubbah'

Bubbah

I wiped the cold from my eyes and hopped out of the bed. I headed to the kitchen to get the coffee ready. I called out to my grandpops as I grabbed the coffee filters from the cabinet. He didn’t respond. I finished preparing the coffee and headed down the hall to his room.

The door was ajar, but I really couldn’t see inside the room, so I opened the door swiftly. I was shocked at the scene. My grandpops was gone. His bed was made which was odd because I made his bed. I turned on my heels and searched the house frantically. I went outside in the backyard to see if he had headed outside to sit in the lawn chairs. He wasn’t out there. At that moment I felt a twinge in my stomach. I knew something was wrong I just didn’t know what it was.

I went back inside and decided to go next door to see if the neighbors may have seen him or heard him. As I walked out the front door that’s when I noticed that his Buick was not in the driveway. I immediately panicked and ran back inside straight to the phone and dialed 911.

I explained my situation to the dispatcher. It was not until I alerted her that my grandpops was suffering from Alzheimer’s that she took my claim seriously and told me that an officer would be out to my home as soon as possible. I thanked her and hung up the phone.

I racked my brain to figure out when and where did he go. I knew that he was watching television in the living room before I went to sleep and heard nothing. I was confused. He must have left when I was asleep, I told myself. He had to. I went into my room and put the clothes back on that I wore the day before.

I walked out of the room and into the kitchen and grabbed a cup off the counter. I poured a cup of coffee and sat at the kitchen table. My grandpops illness had progressed the past year. He couldn’t remember his name let alone where he lived. It had been the two of us ever since my grandma had passed from cancer three years ago.

Most of the family lives out of state and if they don’t, they fail to be bothered with Bubbah, my grandpops. When grandma passed the family split. It was more like me and Bubbah and everybody was on their own side. It was a real mess. I had been my grandpops personal caretaker, the day after the funeral for grandma. It had been the two of us celebrating every holiday and sharing our birthdays with each other. He was more than my grandpops he was my life so of course, I was miserable with guilt for not knowing where he was and for allowing this to happen.

I broke from my thoughts from the sound of a car door slamming. Then I heard it again. I stood up and made my way to the front door and swung it open. I saw two officers in suits walking towards the porch. I thought to myself that the dispatcher must have sent them right over considering what I had explained to her.

They approached me and introduced themselves. They shook my hand and before any of them could speak again I began explaining what had occurred. The officer standing next to me interrupted me and told me that he was sorry to have to tell me this. I paused and shot him a gaze that penetrated his soul. He then informed that Bubbah; my grandpops had crashed his car into another vehicle and that his car had lost total control and slammed into a telephone pole. He informed me that the people who my grandpops struck were okay and had minor injuries, but my grandpops had passed. He told me that he had exited the vehicle through the front window. He told me that he died instantly.

I looked around in complete shock. I was literally frozen in my stance. My mouth was wide open, but nothing came out. The pain that came over me was beyond unbearable. My chest starts to get tight as I kept clentching my hands together. I then sat down and as I did so the tears poured out my eyes and I began sobbing uncontrollably. I sat on the porch and wept. I was devastated. This was news that I definitely was not expecting I thought? I was speechless.

The cops were talking but I never heard anything they said after they explained to me what had happened. The officer placed his hand on my shoulder and told me that he would need me to identify the body. I didn’t move. It wasn’t until he asked me again that I came to my senses and told him of course. I wiped my nose and my face as I stood up. I headed back inside to grab my house keys and then made a beeline out the door and into the back of the car with the police.

We arrived at the morgue and as we pulled in my stomach turned. I felt nauseous. The police parked the car and asked me if I was okay. I wasn’t okay but I knew that I had to be in order to do this. I shook my head up and down and got out of the vehicle. We headed up a flight of stairs and inside the building.

They told me to have a seat in the waiting area as they approached the front desk. They had a quick conversation with the receptionist and then they waved me over. As I walked over another man opened the side door and ushered us through the door. The walk down the hallway seemed like an eternity. We approached a room that had a big window but was covered on the inside by a big curtain. The man who had opened the door went inside the room and pulled back the curtain.

I fell to the floor when I saw my grandpops. I was crying hysterically. The officer picked me up as I starred at the corpse on the table. I stared at what used to be my grandpops. What use to be Bubbah’. His face had been ripped apart. It looked like two-face from the Batman movie. He had a gash in his head the size of a softball that had puss and blood still oozing from the wound. He lied there still and stiff.

I shook my head and told the cops that it was my grandpops. They then waved at the man in the room and he closed the curtain. I stood there looking at the window with that image etched in my brain. Even though the curtain was closed I still could see my grandpops lifeless body on that table. The officer tapped my shoulder and ushered me out back down the hall and out the door.

The man that was in the room came out and introduced himself as the corner that was going to be doing an autopsy on my grandpops. He shook my hand and handed me my grandpops belongings. He turned on his heels and disappeared back into the door.

I gripped the bag that the corner had handed me tightly and made my way to the front desk where I had to sign some formal papers. The officers then ushered me out of the building and into the parking lot. Walking down the flight of stairs I felt like dying with my grandpops. I was beyond hurt.

The drive back home was silent. I was glad that they didn’t say anything to me because I couldn’t speak. I was too focused on my grandpops and how the hell did it get here. They pulled into my driveway and handed me a card. I snatched the card and hopped out. I never looked back at them as I walked up the porch and inside the house.

I sat the bag on the couch and slammed the front door. I was so overcome with emotion that I dropped to the floor and let it out. I sobbed and sobbed like a toddler. Mucus and snot dripped from my nose and mouth as I allowed the tears to fall. I had never experienced pain like this. This was my guy. My idol. My hero. My best friend.

I crawled to the couch and pulled myself up and sat on the arm of the couch. I had lost my grandma, and now my grandpops. What had I done to acquire this bad luck I said to myself? I leaned in and grabbed the bag of my grandpop’s belongings. I scooped up the bag and went into the kitchen and ripped the bag open and placed the contents on the kitchen table.

There on the table was all I had left of my grandpops. His wallet, his identification card, his social security card that had a couple of drops of blood on the numbers, a small black book that resembled an old address book, and his watch that he never took off which was covered in blood. I took the watch to the sink and immediately started cleaning the watch with dawn dish soap. I scrubbed the blood from watch vigorously. I then sat the watch on the counter on top a dry dish towel. I then grabbed his i.d and social security card and headed to my room and put them in my shoebox that I kept all my personal trinkets. I put them in the shoebox and went back to the kitchen.

I approached the table and sat down. I then grabbed the small book and I remembered that this was the book that Bubbah’ would always have and would be jotting stuff down in it. I always wondered what he was writing in that little black book. I picked the small book up and flipped it open. I was completely taken aback when I saw the very first page.

It was a note to me explaining that he had to go on one last drive. He stated that he needed to get in his Buick and go for one more drive. He had to. He stated that he left before I woke up because he didn’t want to interrupt my sleep. Tears were flowing from my ducts. I was could see the tears dropping on the table and book as I read this notation from my grandpops. Did he know what was going on? How did he write this notation considering his mental state? I had more questions than answers after reading his notation to me.

I flipped through the book and came to a page with a 333 in the top corner of the page. I thought nothing of it until I turned the page and saw the arrow going from the number to the back of the page with the word safe. I stood up and walked down the hall and made my way to my grandpops room. I walked in and went straight to the safe that was on the right side of his bed. I squatted down and twisted 3-3-3 into the combination lock and the safe opened.

My mouth dropped when I saw the contents of the safe. The small safe was stuffed with money. Rolls upon rolls of twenty’s stacked neatly inside the safe. I pulled out every roll and counted the money. $21,000 dollars in total. I was flabbergasted. I thought to myself that Bubbah’ had somehow left me but left me in good shape just as he always did throughout my life. Now I could pay for his homecoming and it would be in style I yelled out to myself. I smiled as tears fell from down my cheeks as I thought about Bubbah, my grandpops.