About a month ago I was shopping at a local Wal-Mart store when I came upon a grandfather and his poorly behaved grandson.
It was obvious to me that Gramps has his hands full with the child screaming for candy, cookies, fruit, cereal and soda in their respective aisles. Meanwhile, as Gramps is working his way around the food department, he keeps saying in a cool, controlled voice, "Easy, Albert, we won't be much longer... Take it easy, boy."
There is another outburst from the kid as they cruise through the ice cream section and I hear Grampa calmly say, "It's okay, Albert, just a couple more minutes and we'll be out of here. Hang in there, boy."
I followed them to the checkout and the little terror is throwing items out of the cart, and Gramps doesn't react other than to say again in a well-controlled voice, "Albert, Albert, relax buddy, don't get so upset. We'll be home in five minutes; stay cool, Albert."
Very impressed, I quickly paid for my groceries and followed them outside to where Gramps has gently deposited the kicking, screaming boy in his car seat and is loading his groceries into the car.
I gathered my courage and walked up to him and said: "You know, sir, it's none of my business, but you were amazing in there. I don't know how you did it. That whole time, you kept your composure, and no matter how loud and disruptive Albert got, you just calmly kept saying things would be okay. Albert is very lucky to have you as his Grandpa."
The old man looked at me for a couple of long seconds as another piercing wail blasted our ears and then he said, "Thanks, lady, but I'm Albert.... The little Christer's name is JAKE!"
Posted by Martha Stevens-David
Martha Stevens-David Column Magic City
Martha's Childrens Stories include:
See also her short mystery novel, Vengeance is Mine, which was published at Magic City over 4 days.
