Grandpa
 

For the most part, Grandpa was a gentle man who liked best of all to be with Kev and me, his only two grandchildren. I remember how he used to take us for drives in his rusty old Cadillac along the beach. When the seagulls, or ‘sky rats’ as he called them, were all in the middle of the road, he didn’t just plow through them, he honked a couple of times until they all cleared out of the way.

At The Ice Cream Hut, he bought us as many ice creams as we wanted. Kev once ate four at one time and got brain-freeze accompanied by a stomach ache. Grandpa was there to comfort him through all his tears.

It all happened so suddenly. One minute Grandpa was laughing and joking with us at the beach and the next he was gone.

My mom has been crying and sobbing whenever I see her ever since that morning, September 11th, 2001. I never suspected that the night before he died would be my last with him. It all began a few days before. It was a Saturday morning, and I woke up late as usual.

Grandpa was making breakfast downstairs. "Hurry up you two! I’ve got to get to work and Nicole will be here soon!" he yelled.

Nicole was our favorite babysitter, aside from Grandpa, if you call him one. She watched us whenever Grandpa couldn’t. My mom was out with my dad in Syracuse for a business trip. For the most part, we never saw our parents. They were always either away, at work or too tired. So Grandpa was basically our guardian, mom, dad, supervisor and our best friend. He had raised us for as long as I could remember.

I crawled out of bed and got dressed. I could hear the pancakes sizzling, the bacon frying, the eggs cooking and the toast toasting in the toaster. All I could think about was taking a huge bite and swallowing. Yum! I raced downstairs, cutting off Kev on the stairs, getting first dibs on Grandpa’s famous pancakes.

"Slow! Easy!," he said with a chuckle. "There’s plenty of grub for everyone!" That amazing, all-real smile. Those white teeth that made it up. Grandpa’s smile is the one thing about him I will never forget. How a 75-year-old man could keep a perfect smile like that was a mystery to me, but somehow he did it.

I sat down with a plate of pancakes, eggs and bacon. The toast popped up from the toaster and I raced for it. But my sneaky brother got there first and took both pieces.

"Ha, ha! All mine!" he gloated.

"No!" I shrieked. "Give me one!"

Grandpa tapped me on the back. I turned around and he handed me two big pieces of buttered toast.

I looked at him and smiled. He shot back a grin.

"Thanks, Grandpa," I said, sitting down. "You’re nice... Unlike some people..." I glared at Kev.

He stuck his tongue out at me.

I couldn’t help but noticing his missing two front teeth. I smiled back. I reached for the Aunt Jemima syrup bottle and poured a huge glob on the stack of pancakes. Out of the corner of my eye, I spied Nicole come in from the front door. She was carrying her knapsack, and had a huge smile on her face. That’s how Nicole is, very cheerful and always has a smile on her face.

Kev looked up from his plate and grinned at her.

"I’ve got the best surprise in the world for them today," I heard her whisper to Grandpa.

"What?" he questioned.

"Well, my dad works for a company which sponsors a fundraiser Wacky Land holds every year. As a thank-you present to the company, Wacky Land gave them a bunch of free tickets for the employees! And my dad received 4 free tickets for a full day at Wacky Land! Isn’t that terrific?"

"Yeah!" I said, jumping out of my seat. "Can we go, Grandpa? Can we?"

"Well, um...I don’t know..."

"Please! We’ll be extra good!" Kev chipped in.

"Of course!" he said. "But you have to promise to bring me back a souvenir!"

I smiled. "Of course, Grandpa." I couldn’t believe it! A fun-filled day at the glorious theme park, Wacky Land, with my favorite babysitter!

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his brown leather wallet, and took out two $50 bills. "Now I want you two to spend every cent. That’s an order," he said, handing me a fifty.

I politely thanked him with a wide grin on my face. The day couldn’t get any better, I thought. But it did.

The phone rang and Grandpa picked it up. "Hello?" he said into the receiver. "Okay, yes Mr. Jenson. I understand. Well, I hope you feel better. Okay. Take care." He hung it up. "Good news, everyone! My boss doesn’t need me to go in today, he’s out sick with the flu. If you don’t mind, I would like to go to Wacky Land with you!"

"Yeah, Grandpa! Will you go on the big rides with me?"

"Sure, Kev! Let me just change and then let’s hit the road!" he chuckled.

***

"Which ride should we go on first?" Nicole asked. "There’s the Haunted House, River Rapids, The Sky Ride, The Exterminator, or the Merry-Go-Round in this area. Which one?"

"River Rapids!" we all exclaimed at once.

The River Rapids was our favorite ride. It was a water ride that followed a track and it had a bunch of segments with rapids. When you went over the rapids, the boat tipped to one side and everyone got soaking wet. I raced into the line with Kev following close behind. There were only about 5 or 6 people in front of us so we didn’t have to wait very long. When it was our turn, we all piled into the large tube. We all strapped ourselves in and the tube lurched forward. As it was chugging up the hill, I remembered the drop that was over this hill. My stomach felt like it was in a knot. Grandpa looked at me and smiled.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I’m just kind of scared of the drop. I mean, what if we tip over or something?"

"Oh, Kim! Nothing like that will ever happen. Trust me!"

I had always trusted my Grandpa and I felt a little better. As the tube went over the hill I screamed only once, but it was a scream of happiness. I got off the ride soaking wet.

"You should see yourself!" Grandpa said to Kev.

We all laughed.

"What’s next?" Nicole wanted to know.

After riding the River Rapids again, the Exterminator, the Sky Ride, the Trolley, Merry-Go-Round (which we rode 7 times) Bumper Cars, Ferris Wheel and the Mountain Coaster, we decided it was time for lunch. When we rode on the Mountain Coaster, Grandpa sat in the back and we sat in the front. He and Nicole got off before us. People were piling in the train and blocking the exit to our train. Before we could get a chance to get off, the ride started going up the hill again.

"Oh! oh!" Kev whimpered.

"Don’t worry. When they see we didn’t get off, they’ll wait for us at the exit." I said. But I wasn’t sure. When the ride finally ended, we jumped out off the seats and raced down the exit ramp. But the bench by the ramp was empty and neither Grandpa nor Nicole was anywhere in sight. Kev started to cry. "Don’t cry, Kev. We’ll find them!" I told him. "We’ll try looking for them." We looked all over, on rides, at the exits and entrances of every ride, at the pool, but they weren’t anywhere. Kev started to cry. "Kev, stop! Where did Grandpa say he was going on the Mountain Coaster?"

"To get something to…to eat," he sobbed.

"Right! So that’s probably where they went! C’mon!

We raced to the food court and there, sitting on the bench was Grandpa with Nicole!

"Oh, thank heavens you’re all right!" Grandpa said, giving us both a huge hug. "I figured you might come here! Is everyone okay?"

We nodded.

Nicole came up to me and gave me a hug.

"You scared me there, munchkin!" I smiled. "We got stuck on the coaster when you guys got off. I’m sorry Grandpa."

"Oh, baby. It’s not you’re fault. Now, who’s hungry?"

***

"Wake up, sleepy head!" I heard Grandpa say from the hallway. "You’ve got to go to school and I’ve got to go to work!"

"Okay, Grandpa."

After eating breakfast, Grandpa drove me to school. "Bye, Grandpa! I love you!"

"I love you, too!" he replied, showing those perfect teeth. 

I ran into school and unpacked. "Hi, Kim! Wasn’t that such fun last night?"

"Oh, hi Laura-Ann! Yeah, it was a blast."

"You’re so lucky! Your Grandpa is the coolest dancer!"

I smiled. "I know!" We both giggled and sat down at our desks.

"Okay, class! Open your text books to page 235. Please complete problems 1-25. You have 15 minutes. Okay? Go!"

***

I didn’t know what was happening. All I knew was that the building where my Grandpa had worked had been hit by a plane. All I kept thinking was: Is he okay? Where is he? How did this happen? Why?

They dismissed us early. When I got home, Grandpa wasn’t there.

"Kim? What happened? Why did they let us out early?"

"I’m not sure, Kev. But let me turn on the news and find out." I did find out. Grandpa’s building had been hit and it had collapsed. The other one was hit, too but it was still standing. I shut the news off and started crying.

"What’s the matter?" Kev asked. I explained it to him through all my tears.

We both cuddled up on the couch and cried.

I don’t know when my parents came home, but a short while after, a policeman came to the door. "Is this the Bailey residence?" he asked when my mom opened the door.

"Yes, can I help you?"

"Does a Mr Lou Bailey live here?"

"Yes, that’s my father."

"Mam, I am so extremely sorry. But your father has been found dead at the site of the twin tower tragedy."

I couldn’t believe it. I ran up to my room and buried my face in the pillow. I cried for hours until my dad came upstairs and tried to comfort me. But it was no use. He was gone, forever. And I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye.

- EJP   (Age 12)