Stacy Matthews - Dear Mary 01 - Think Twice Before You Order by Stacy Matthews Read Free Book Online

angry, but the only thing that came out
of his mouth was he didn’t want Mom or I to have anything to do with Grandpa
ever again. Then he stormed off to his work shed. That’s where he would go when
he was upset or angry. One of his favorite hobbies was woodworking; he had made
Mom a very nice umbrella stand and a new kitchen counter top. If she thought he
was taking too long on a project of hers, she would pick a little fight with
him just so he would get it finished.
    Even though we lived in the same town and not that far away from one
another, Grandpa and Dad managed not to speak to one another until Mom died.
    Grandma G died when I was seven, so the memories I have of her are
limited but good. The only clear memory I have of her is offering me a cookie.
I think if anyone offers a cookie to a kid, the memories they have of that person
are bound to be good. Even to this day if someone gives me a cookie I have the
best memory of that person. It isn’t just cookies anymore that make for a good
memory, it seems any baked goods will do the trick.
    Of course my Mother took care of Grandpa after Grandma passed, and had
secretly continued to take care of Grandpa after the big fight he and Dad had.
The only way I found out was on one of my trips back home from college. Mom and
I were out doing some errands and she stopped at Grandpas house to drop
something off. When she got back in the car the only thing she said about it
was “Don’t mention this to your father”.
    That's another difference between small towns and big cities. Everyone in
town knew about the big fight between Dad and Grandpa, they also knew Mom was
taking care of Grandpa and not to mention it to my Dad. I was so mad at her;
all of those years I had wanted to go see Grandpa and she had secretly been
taking care of him, never saying a word to me. I would see him out in his yard
when I was riding my bike. I would wave and he would wave back, but we both
knew that if I stopped to talk, Dad would find out about it. When I asked Mom
if I could stop and talk to Grandpa, the answer I got was "If your father
found out about it, shit would hit the fan." When I would ask her what the
fight had been about the answer she would give was, “It doesn’t matter what the
argument was about. It was between the two of them and none of our business. We
need to respect your father’s wishes.” Funny how that seemed to be the only
time we needed to respect his wishes. I waited a couple of months after the
fight and then started questioning Dad about what had happened. He also had one
of two answers: “I don’t want you talking to that man” or “I don’t want to talk
about it.” It didn’t matter which he used, he would always leave the room
frantically trying to find my mother, to get her to make me leave him alone.
I’m sure Dad told Mom everything, but what with the wonder twins only having
four answers between them, and neither of them showing any signs of caving in,
I gave up after a couple of months. I resigned myself to the fact that riding
by on my bike and waving was going to be as close as I could get to Grandpa. I
don’t know if it was from having not talked to him for so long, being older and
busier, but not talking to Grandpa seemed to have become more of the norm.
    Grandpa and Dad managed not to speak to one another until Mom died. Even
then it wasn’t a big showing of emotions; Grandpa walked up to Dad and said he
was sorry for Dad’s loss. Then Grandpa turned to me, gave me hug and said he
loved me. I couldn’t believe it. I was so stunned couldn’t get a word out. I
know that’s hard to believe, but it’s true. All I could do was stand there and
watch as he walked out of the funeral home. After seeing Grandpa at Mom's
funeral, I didn’t have any contact with him until Dad passed away a year later.
    I went home as often as I could during that year before Dad passed away,
because I knew he was going to have an extremely hard time dealing with