It seemed to take Grandpa a lot longer to go up the roughly hewn path than it had on the way down. He even seemed to be a little bit sad to John his normally smiling face set in a thoughtful scowl that John had never really seen before.
As they came up to the house and walked in through the side door the smell of dinner reached their noses and John suddenly realized just how hungry he was. He took an appreciative sniff and ran into the kitchen to give his mother a hug and set the table.
“You’re going to make yourself sick sitting in the wet grass this time of year” She admonished accepting his hug and reaching past him to brush a bit of grass from Grandpas hair as he walked in. John’s baby brother Jake screeched his greeting from the high chair and John went over to pick up the toys scattered around the highchairs wheels.
“You’re a good daughter Merry Berry you know that don’t you?” Grandpa asked smiling as she continued brushing bits of grass and imaginary dirt from his forehead.
“Of course I do, how else would I be able to put up with the likes of you?” She replied kissing his cheek. She walked back over to the stove and suddenly stopped to eye Grandpa suspiciously “You feeling all right Dad? You haven’t called me Merry Berry in years”
Grandpa smiled back at her “I’m fine Meredith, what’s for dinner? It smells like it might be at least half as good as your moms’ cooking was” he said winking at John.
“I made a pot roast and it is just as good as Mom’s I assure you” Meredith replied ”Trust me I’ve already checked a few times. Now sit down at the table.”
“Yes ma’am” Grandpa said taking his usual seat beside John and pulling the wheeled highchair with a now fussing Jack sitting in it closer to the table. “Ready for some dinner little man?”
After supper Grandpa stood up and stretching said “I’ve got some work to get to, thanks for the wonderful supper Meredith “he leant over and kissed the crown of her head while she sat trying to feed Jake “Was just as good as your Moms”
John jumped up from his chair “I’ll come help you Grandpa!”
“Not so fast you, first of all you need to put your plate away and second I seem to recall that I’ve been asking you to clean up your room for a few days now and it’s still quite the pigpen” Mom said giving him a look.
“Aww but c’mon mom I want to help Grandpa” He looked at his mother face with his best puppy dog look and instantly realized he wasn’t going to get out of it. “Fine” he grumbled picking up his plate and carrying it over to the sink watching as Grandpa walked out the back door with a little wave and headed across the lawn.
He ran up the stairs to his room and quickly shoved as much stuff under the bed as he could and the rest into the bottom of the closet and bolted right back down.
“John you stop right there” called his mother from the kitchen. She walked into the mudroom and gave him one of her best Mom looks “There is no way you cleaned up properly that fast.” John opened his mouth to argue “If I go up there right now how many things might I find under your bed? Now do you want a few more minutes or should I go check now?”
With a sigh John retraced his steps back up to his room and crawled under his bed to begin shoveling the mess back out. After nearly half an hour he finally thought his room would pass inspection and headed across the hall where Mom was now giving Jake a bath. “I’m done”
Mom gave him an appraising look “All right I believe you, you can go help Grandpa but be back up by bedtime”
John jumped down the stairs two at a time and ran out the mudroom door pausing just long enough to step into his rubber boots and pull his jacket of his hook. He barely noticed the drizzle falling down around him as he ran towards the light shining from Grandpas workshop.
