Monday, July 21, 2008

Noes from a Granddaughter's Visit

She was going to sleep the first night of her visit. My wife and I were accompanying her and her mother to my study, to the pull-out bed my wife had prepared which faced a wall of pictures, most of which are of me during my long-time acting career. My granddaughted looked around the room and frowned; then she seemed frightened. "Who is that?" she asked her mother, pointing to several of the pictures. My daughter said: "Grandpa." She stared at the pictures. "Why does he look that way," she said. "That's when Grandpa was young." She then hid under the covers. That was the way she fell asleep.

The next morning over breakfast she stared at me. "I don't like you young, Grandpa," she said with a firm frown. "I'm sorry. Those pictures are from when Grandpa was an actor."

"I don't like them."

"I was just pretending in those pictures; petending to be mad; and silly; and confused. Just like you shout at me and like me to 'be scared'. You like that, don't you? It's fun. It's make-believe."

"I don't like you young," she said, adamantly.

"OK," I said. "I promise you I will never be young again. I'll always be like Grandpa."

She accepted that.

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