30 Day Image Prompt Competition

Day 10 Prompt 2 - The View

         The dominating feature of the penthouse apartment was the vast glass wall overlooking the city below. Standing there, it was possible to see the full extent of the city, how it had evolved, spread out over the once green pasture land that had existed there for so long. Jacob let his eyes drift over the tightly packed skyscrapers, a mixture of office suites and apartments for the young, ambitious office workers.
         Beyond the density of the skyscrapers, suburban neighbourhoods lay in a patchwork of green gardens and white picket fenced houses. He could imagine families making their homes there, a child’s bike on the lawn, newspaper lying on the porch from where the delivery boy had flung it. Images of the perfect childhood that had escaped his upbringing.
         Feeling the old familiar bitterness rising up inside him he looked even further towards the edges of the city. Farms lay dotted around a green and yellow patchwork of pasture and crops. Though they were too far from him to see, he could imagine sheep and cattle wandering around the fields, grazing upon the lush grass. He had been a teenager before he had seen a farm and encountered a cow in a field and discovered what landing in a cowpat felt like. He had ranted and raved at everyone, that day, whilst the farm staff had laughed at his misfortune. Not a good start but it had been one to build upon, to redeem himself in the eyes of those who had come to matter to him.
         “I don’t know how you can stand so close to that glass.” The slightly frail voice was followed by the whirring of an electric motor as a wheelchair entered the room. “I get vertigo whenever I enter this room.”
         “Yet you still insist on eating your breakfast by the window,” Jacob retorted as he turned and smiled at the elderly man who had joined him.
         “If you let your fears get the better of you then they have won. You should always face your fears head on and give them a kicking to keep them in line.” The chair came to a halt a few feet from the window.
         “That sounds like something my father used to say, although he wasn’t talking about his fears when he said it.” A muscle ticked in his jaw at the memories that surged forwards.
         “Your father was an idiot and a bully. When I think of what he did… How I wish I was not in this chair. I would teach him about facing things!”
         “Then I would have to visit you in prison rather than at Merryfield.”
         “Not much difference there. Never known a place to have so little privacy.”
         “You wanted to go there. I offered to set you up here, in the apartment with me.” Jacob looked over at his grandfather, seeing the sadness that pulled the corners of his mouth down. Merryfield was reputed to be one of the finest homes in the city yet despite all of its facilities and activities his grandfather was not happy there.
         “I’m not a city man. This is alright for a visit but I could not live here permanently.” A sigh escaped the old man as he stared out across the city. “Getting old can be a prison no matter where you are.”
         “What about a place in the country? Would that give you your freedom?” Jacob didn’t know where the words had come from but he knew that he wanted to take the sadness from his grandfather’s eyes. The older man had sacrificed so much for him that he wanted, no needed, to give him something in return.
         “You don’t like the countryside. It’s full of cowpats that attack people.” A smile lightened his face as he reminded his grandson of that first day. “Besides, I can’t run a country house like I used to.”
         “I can get you a property with a full staff to do whatever you tell them.”
         “Whatever I want them to do?” The old man perked up at this, his mind already stretching towards activities that would not please his grandson.
         “Within reason.” Jacob knew his grandfather well. “Would you be interested?”
         “Yes, I would. I’ll have a look on the internet to see what’s available.” He rubbed his hands in eager anticipation, his mind already making plans.
         “Why don’t we start looking now, after breakfast? I can clear my schedule so that we can go and visit properties.” Again, Jacob was surprised at his suggestion to his grandfather. He was not known to be a spontaneous man yet here he was, offering to take the day off so that he could take his grandfather to look at properties with a view to purchasing one for him.
         “Now you’re talking. This is going to be a wonderful day, my boy, as long as you don’t fall in a cowpat again.” His grandfather grinned at him, humour taking years off his wrinkled face.
         “I’ll do my best.” Feeling his mood lightened by his grandfather’s eagerness, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his mobile. A few calls would free up his day and then they could commence the search for a suitable property for his grandfather. An easy but rewarding task, he thought to himself as he waited for his PA to answer the phone. Problem free compared to the stress he normally encountered, he assumed, blithely unaware of what was to come!