Us young kids were all playing outside Grandpa’s house after going to Grandma’s funeral while our parents and other visitors chatted inside as adults do after occasions like this in the country.
So we were tearing about the garden, seeing if the fruit was ripe on the
trees which it wasn’t and trying to prize open the lid to the old well and
while we were doing that Grandpa must have come outside without us hearing to
have a smoke or use the outside toilet which he still had.
By this time I had crawled on top of the well cover and was trying to
open it up when he must have seen me he shouted, “Keep off, I don’t want you to go near there” waving his
stick at me. I stiffened with shock and confusion and blurted out, “Why, is Grandma down the well?”
Hearing this Grandpa just collapsed in a heap bawling his eyes out causing my sister Win who had been watching us to run inside to fetch Ma. All this happened many years ago and here I am nearly sixty and as I recall that incident my eyes are wet with tears too..
Hearing this Grandpa just collapsed in a heap bawling his eyes out causing my sister Win who had been watching us to run inside to fetch Ma. All this happened many years ago and here I am nearly sixty and as I recall that incident my eyes are wet with tears too..
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Some experiences etch themselves so surely and permanently into our memory. I know how terribly my Grandfather grieved after my Grandmother died. Such heartbreak.
ReplyDeleteIt's one of those memories of yourself as a kid that still has the power to bring forth the emotions you had at that exact moment in time. Thank you for sharing the poignant memories.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny the things that we remember from childhood, both the happy moments and the tragic moments. This one obviously left an impression on you that you understand much more clearly at this stage of life. Children respond from a state of innocence, they just don't always say the right thing at the right time.
ReplyDeletewhat a powerful... not sure memory is enough of a word, image-bound-to-emotion ...not a real word.
ReplyDeletevery strong Six this week, very strong
Note! This short extract and conversion to a six sentence story is from a longer short story about a young married man recollecting his childhood after noticing a small town's name while looking something up for his wife that I wrote back in 2010. The name triggers a memory from his past which has come back to haunt him.
ReplyDeleteNo matter where the story came from, it's powerful!
ReplyDelete