In a Better Place
Posted
by
jclane on
9/8/2008 6:40:32 AM
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This is the first time I've been back in "Erin Falls" in over twenty years. Before that I don't think I can ever remember a time when I hadn't spent a summer here at "Penny Lane". My Grandparents owned this summer place and now that they have passed on; I guess the place now belongs to me. It is a little run down but pretty much the same as I remember it from 1988.
I can still see Grumps and Penny sitting on the porch; Grumps reading from the "Good Book" to a little curly haired boy, while Penny is knitting a sweater. Curly hair! Darn, there is something missing, I think to myself, as I run my hand over a freshly shaved billiard-ball head. Grumps and Penny were my paternal Grandparents. When I first started to talk I couldn't pronounce "Gramps", it always seemed to come out, "Grumps." Penny was my Grandmother's real name; short for Penelope. "Penny, like a "brand-new penny", she would say. They never seemed to mind me calling them "Grumps" and "Penny". So that's what they were.
Grumps had a special name for me also. "Qs" he called me because I always had a question for something. I remember the first time I saw a firefly. I think I was about three. He let me stay up past my usual seven o'clock bedtime. I was overwhelmed by these tiny, flashing lights, which dotted the landscape. "Ah, ah, ah" I grunted, pointing aimlessly with my index finger. "Night Fairies" he said. But when I got older Penny explained to me that they were just fire-flies. On Sunday mornings, Grumps would read to me passages from the "Good book." "God and Jesus are very important," he would say. "If you trust in the Lord you can never go wrong." I can still hear the questions I asked and his standard response was always the same; "Because there are such things."
Fishing was one of our best times together. Everything I learned about fishing came from Grumps. Brightly coloured Sunfish, skinny, shiny perch and those ugly barbed, whiskered, catfish were all a part of his internal encyclopedia. There wasn't a worm baited hook that didn't produce a sizzling pan size fish every time he set his hook in the water. At the setting of the sun we'd drag our dirty, tired, sun burned hides back to the cottage where Penny would scold us, just ever so slightly, and then she would mend our wounds and fill our empty bellies. Then we'd smile and say in unison; "There are such things."
I remember us building and repairing many things around the cottage. There wasn't any fencing around the property however the boat launch needed periodic repair. Lawn chairs, porches and windows needed touch-up painting. As Grumps got older he decided to build a small bridge over the creek. The creek at that time really didn't need a bridge. There was very little water and where he decided to build the bridge didn't make too much sense either. When he got it in his mind to do something, he did it; despite my many questions and I always had questions. I didn't dwell on the subject too much because I knew that his internal encyclopedia had so many volumes to it that I knew he had a logical reason to build it where he did. To add to the mystery of why the bridge, he added two other strange components to it. The entrance to the bridge traversed the creek, but where the exit was, strange as it sounds, it didn't seem to go anywhere. It just butted up against a huge oak tree only inches ahead. He constructed a guard rail on both sides and at the tree end he put a chain across. Secondly he painted a beautiful sign with the words, "The bridge is love;" in bold red and white letters.
One of my last memories of Grumps happened just months before his untimely passing. We were sitting on the porch drinking one of Penny's famous hot chocolates, with two large puffy marshmallows, oozing over the side of the mug. I blurted out one of my "Qs." "Grumps, when do old people die?" "Where do they go and how do we ever see them again?" "Qs, he said, there is a land of the living and a land of the dead, and the bridge is love." "What you see there before us is the land of the living. Cherish each and every day. Enjoy all of its splendour now, while you can. "Make lots of friends, hold them dearly. Keep in touch with your family and most of all; be true to yourself and to the Lord." Somewhere over there is the land of the dead. You have plenty of time for that, much, much later. "He pointed his finger somewhere toward the bridge. "Qs," he said, "remember that as long as you love us, speak and think kindly of us, then. The bridge between is love. "
Shortly after that both Grumps and Penny passed away in their sleep. They were discovered by a friend passing through the area. The cottage was closed up after that but I had the opportunity to visit there before I went off to University. I sat on the huge porch alone for the first time in many years. I tried as hard as I could to understand why, at the funeral, the Minister said, "we will all miss John and Penelope. They are in a better place" "I can't for the life of me see where this better place could be. There is no place like here in "Penny Lane."
Well, here I am, twenty years later, all grown up; still single and a much richer man for knowing them and inheriting the best place on earth. As I look around I can see Grumps and Penny just where I left them. Oh, there is one big change however, one which I hadn't noticed before. There at the end of the bridge, where the huge oak tree stood, is now a clear path leading off into infinity. Finally I know now what Grumps meant when he said; "There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge between is "love." Some day I too will cross the bridge.
Comments
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I've enjoyed reading this short story - a few times! It has been a blessing to contemplate that bridge of love that spans generations and connects worlds. Thanks!
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9/12/2008 9:33:39 AM
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anonymous
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I loved your collection of treasured memories.
What wonderful Grandparents you were blessed with.
Thank you for taking us down Penny (memory) Lane!
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9/12/2008 8:46:57 PM
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Ignited~Faith, Member of Delve into Jesus since 2/20/2008
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What a blessing they were to you, but you remember you blessed them as well, you have again by sharing them with us...Thank you
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9/19/2008 10:22:06 PM
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mammak, Member of Delve into Jesus since 9/3/2008
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