The Grampie

The Grampie

Andrew walked into the living room finding four-year old Jeff on the sofa with a book open in his lap. It would have been fine were it a children’s book, but this was a hard cover that he apparently had taken off the bookshelf.

It flashed through his mind that Jeff was probably not supposed to play with his parent’s books, but then it also flashed through his mind that he didn’t want to be a disciplinarian right now.

“Hey Jeff,” he said, “What are you reading?”

Jeff looked up quickly, scoping out the situation. Apparently feeling comfortable that it was Grampie, he said, “A book.”

“That’s cool,” Andrew said, sitting next to him, “what’s it about?”

Jeff looked up, and with a twinkle in his eyes said, “Dragons and parachutes!”

“Wow! That must be fun! Do the dragons parachute down from airplanes or something?”

“Yes! Only from spaceships because they came here from the moon!”

“Why did they decide to come here? Or, haven’t you read that part yet...?”

“They want ice cream. They can’t grow ice cream on the moon so they want to steal it from us!”

“Wow! When you finish reading it will you tell me what happened in the end?”

“Ah... sure,” Jeff said, seeming to suddenly realize he was in over his head.

Realizing this himself, Andrew threw him a life raft, “In the meantime, you just made me wish I had some ice cream. Do you want to go to Stoffie’s with me and get some?”

“Yes!” Jeff said, snapping the book shut and jumping off the couch. The book forgotten.

As they drove off, Andrew suddenly felt free. Free not to be a parent and free to enjoy every minute with this brand new human being.

Andrew, after all was now Grampie!