Grandfather Story

“ Your gramps hasn’t always been the nicest man” My aunt warned as I told her about my plan to stay with him this summer.

“ I really don’t think it’s such a good idea” she tried to convince me to change my mind. I never understood why my family felt this way about my grandpa. I was born a lot later than my cousins were, my Dad being the second youngest of six children, so I've never seen that side of him. Everyone says he's softened up in his old age.

“ I’ll be OK” I replied. “ We get along just fine, you don’t have to worry.”

***

As we head to bed on the first night of my stay, my grandpa asks if I want to pull the mattress off the bed in my room and put it on the floor in the living room.

“Sure!” I say with excitement.

He sleeps on the couch every night. He is trying to make it sound like it’s for my benefit, but I know he just wants the company. Plus, the TV is here so I can watch shows all night long if I want to.

Just like every day of his life, as far I know, my grandpa got up at 6 am. He goes out to feed the horse, the cow, and the chickens, and then he starts some other form of yard work. Sometimes he mows the lawn, other times he repairs buildings, but usually he goes into his garden and cares for the fresh veggies and my deceased grandmother’s flowers.

I roll out of bed around 730 and put the coffee on before I start making breakfast . I know he will be in at 8 to come and eat. He has a cup of coffee; black with 3 scoops of sugar, Special K cereal; canned milk, with 2 scoops of sugar and a bit of 1% milk. Toast; whole wheat, toasted lightly, covered in butter. It is the same everyday, except for the occasional day when he requests Sunny Boy hot cereal.

After breakfast, I clean up the mess I made in the kitchen and then head outside to help him with whatever he is working on. Today, we are fixing up the chicken coop. It is such a beautiful day today, the sun is out and I am working on my tan. I check my phone, and it is almost 11:30 am.

“ I’m going to head inside to go get lunch ready Gramps. Any special requests?” I ask as I start to walk inside.

“ Tuna fish!” He yells at me. No please, no thank you. That’s how it usually is. It doesn’t bother me though, like it bothers my aunts.

As I get back to the house, I feel a surge of happiness and energy. I am ready to take on the world. Or maybe just clean something... I feel very productive. I love this feeling. I start going through the cupboards, grabbing 2 cans of tuna fish and a bag of lays plain ripple chips. Then, to the fridge, to get sweet pickles, mayo and Miracle Whip. My grandma always used both, so I am going to use both. As I search for the rest of the ingredients to make the sandwiches, I hear the old radio playing . For as long as I can remember, that thing has been on. The same news station day in and day out. I walk over to it and start playing with the dial.

“ Does this thing even get stations that play music” I ask myself as I turned the dial further. “AHA!! Music! Sweet!”

It’s an oldies station, but music is music, and I am even happier than I was 2 minutes ago. I continue gathering what I need for lunch and set our places at the table.

11:59 strikes the clock and in comes my gramps.

“ What is all this ruckus in here?!” I hear him say with a slight grumpiness in his voice, as he walks to the back of the room where the radio is.

“ Oh, I just changed the station. I wanted to hear some music while I made lunch. Hope that’s ok old man” I reply, instantly regretting my choice of words.

“ Come over here! ” he snarked, and I was hesitant to listen.

“He is definitely going to smack me upside the head for that comment.” I think to myself as I approach cautiously with one eye, half closed.

The next thing I know, we are waltzing across the kitchen. I can’t believe this is happening. I feel like I am out of my body, watching myself dance from above. Around the table, towards the door, back to the middle, around the island. My grandpa is so swift on his feet. An incredible dancer.

I am laughing so hard my stomach muscles hurt. I just stepped on his feet and then tripped over myself. Clearly, I am not as graceful as he is but it isn’t stopping us. His one hand is on the lower of my back and the other held in a firm frame to support me. We shuffled and twirled our way through the song. I am finally starting to get the hang of it. The dance is starting to feel more natural. I am having the time of my life. I Throw my head back with laughter and watch his smile reach from ear to ear, I can tell he loves to dance. As the song comes to an end, he thanks me for the dance, and heads towards his seat at the table.

“ Get me some grub woman” he commands with a firm tone. I think this is how he used to talk to my grandma, but I'm not sure.

“ Ay-ay captain!” I reply giving him a cheeky salute.

“ Coming right up!”