Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Grandparent(s) (04/03/08)
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TITLE: "Hope Deferred..." | Previous Challenge Entry
By Frank Salerni
04/04/08 -
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Hollow, twisted, and with a look of distant secrecy, my grandpa sat in daily ritual on the front pouch of a country home that faced down a long, straight, and dusty dirt road. No apparent love of life existed within this shell of a man. How could my grandma love him so much?
If he uttered a word it was with complaint of soul. If he needed something he just waited until someone asked, and then grunted in a way that would indicate “yes” or “no.”
No one liked him. He seemed most unkind.
I remember that his salt and pepper hair reeked with the smell of thick butch wax. He was always half-shaven with drool marks at the side of his lifeless mouth. His clothes were put on wrinkled from wearing them several days in a row. If I greeted him with any joy it was returned with not so much as a word.
His head hung down from the neck like a cat stalking its prey. The rocking chair he sat in never moved. Hours went by as he continued to stair down the road as if he hoped to see something crest the hill at the horizon. My grandma always spoke of him with great respect.
His fingers were always clutched to the worn-out wood at ends of his rocking chairs arms, and his hard black shoes remained flat against the weathered wooden slats of the old front porch.
One day I sat beside him and was playing with some marbles. I was rolling them down the cracks of the adjoining wooden slats. Grandma poked her head out from the house and instructed me to be careful not to leave them where he might step on them and fall. I was preoccupied with the thought of moving the cat’s tail from beneath the rocker, but grandpa never moved, so why should I?
The screen door squealed as grandma came out and stood beside him. She gently placed her hand on his shoulder. I could see her squinting from the harsh sunlight. She raised a hand over her eyes to shade them. She, now too, was staring down the road.
As I looked to see what they were gazing at I could see that a black car was coming toward us fast, and it was kicking up dust as it came. Two flags were mounted on the front fenders and I watched as they furrowed from the wind. Suddenly, grandpa’s eyes were widened. Grandma gasped. I stood to my feet as the car turned and stopped at the front porch. A sign was painted in gold on the door of the vehicle. I read it out loud.
“U.S. Embassy, what does it mean, grandma?” Before she could answer the car door opened and a uniformed man emerged. “It gives me great pleasure to present you with this news, sir.” A large manila envelope was placed into my grandpa hand. The soldier then saluted, got into the car, and just drove off.
My grandma started to cry as grandpa nervously opened and read this official letter.
I was amazed to hear grandpa speak… “Your son and daughter have been found and released into the U.S. custody. After a time of debriefing they will be coming home. Congratulations! Your country is in your debt.”
I was a bit confused, so I asked again, “What does it mean, grandma?”
She spoke between sobs. “Your grandpa gave his all for his country, and that included two of his children. The enemy came into our house and took our children to try and get important information from your grandpa. It is quite complicated. Years in the concentration camps, and guilt for loosing his children consumed him, but he managed to escape as I did. Soon we will all be made whole again. God has answered our prayers.
I always wondered what those faded numbers on that tattoo was doing on his wrist, and now I know that… my grandpa was a war hero!
Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.
Proverbs 13:12 NKJV
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Keep writing like this and you'll be in Level 4 before we know it.
Laury
I felt like the transition from the beginning to the end was a bit rushed. However, it is sometimes hard to tell a story like this in only 750 words, so I think you did a good job with what you had to work with.
Thank you for sharing this. :)