Barber
placed his hand in his grandmother’s cold, clammy, hand. Grandma
was sleeping in her bed just as she had for the past ten years. His
stomach filled with butterflies not knowing where to begin. Her
subtle breathing and closed eyes revealed she was in another world.
Barber pretended she was awake and listening as he leaned closer to
her.
“Hi
grandma, how are you doing today?”
There
was no answer; her condition hadn’t changed for the past four
months and the phone call from the nursing home urged him to see her
today. Barber looked outside to see the snow blowing in the wind. It
was cold outside, more than any other day but it was the intuition
that grandma was leaving that he dreaded most. He rested his head on
grandma’s warm chest and heard her heart beat. Then slowly, he
lifted his head as he wiped his eyes and looked at her.
“I’m
so happy to see you today,” he gasped as the tears rose from his
eyes.
“There
is so much I want to say to you and I don’t know where to begin,”
he choked in a laugh and wiped his eyes again.
“My mom, dad and sister got to visit Paris with my sister as a
field trip the school set up. She’s having the time of her life,
but she’s thinking of you. Caroline finished her floral design and
has a certificate. May is almost finished with ninth grade and will
be a sophomore.”
“You’re
special to me grandma and I want you to know that. You were always
there for us,” his voice trembled as he revealed a smile on his
face to re-live the memories in his life.
One
of the memories gave him pleasure to re-live and made him laugh. It
filled his soul like a picture of water pouring into a flower bed
filled with roses. It was this memory that unfolded in such
flashbacks.
“Grandma can we play
checkers?” asked Barber as he lifted the checker board for her to
see. Beneath the thick glasses his grandma grinned at the young eight
year old.
“Set it up!” she smiled.
Barber placed the pieces on
the board until she was finished cooking the soup on the stove. He
was black, she was red and when it was all set up he made the first
move.
“Hey Grandma, what is that
big wooden thing on the book shelf?”
“It’s a nut,” she
answered and carefully moved her round checker.
“The stuff in the dark
wooden dresser down stairs, who’s is it?” he asked as he moved
his checker piece.
“That belonged to your
grandpa; someday when you’re older you can have it,” she answered
before moving her red checker piece.
Barber quickly double jumped
two checker pieces. His grandma hesitated for a minute realizing what
had happened.
“I think you’re
cheating,” she chuckled.
After the game, they spent
the hour reading Three Little Pigs and The Gingerbread Man. They ate
chicken sandwiches and vegetable soup while they talked about the
importance of saving money. Save your pennies, dimes and nickels is
what she would always say.
“In school I can run like
the Gingerbread Man,” Barber insisted as his grandma laughed. The
powerful taste of ginger snaps and Fig Newton’s filled his stomach
with such delight.
He didn’t want it to end
and when he was that young, time stood still. Surely grandma could
live forever to play checkers and read Three Little Pigs.
“We
had a lot of good times, grandma. Every year on Thanksgiving and
Christmas
we would play Monopoly. Every summer I would mow your lawn
and
you would pay me twenty dollars for doing it. I remember you telling
me the value
of
saving money to accomplish your dreams. I think back on it and would
give every cent of it back just so you could rejoice to me right this
second the way you did when I was young.” Barber lightly caressed
his hand over her forehead and into her grey, curly hair.
He
sat in her bed and looked at her as he tried to think about all the
things she had said. Barber could still hear grandma’s voice inside
his head and when she visited him at school in second grade for
grandparent’s day he felt so special. She nurtured him when he was
sick and he helped her get out of bed when he was older. Grandmas and
grandpas are very important to the world, but his grandma was his
second mom.
To Be Continued
"She Says"
Red and Blue Dragon Fantasy LLC.
Ryan Keith Johnson
Copy Right 2012 and 2015
All Rights Reserved.
Available on Blue Dragon Fantasy: Faded Memories and Short Stories
and the Legacy Anthology. Coming soon as an e-book
