Grandfather Tanner looked down at his plate and started raking green beans back and forth.
Davey’s eyes never wavered.
Grandfather Tanner coughed and drank some tea.
Davey kept staring.
Finally, Grandfather Tanner fished a quarter out of his pocket and placed it on the tablecloth in front of Davey’s plate.
Davey still kept staring.
With a sigh, Grandfather Tanner produced another quarter. Clink! Onto the table it went.
Davey palmed the coins, gave Grandfather a reproachful look, and resumed balling up his dinner roll into doughy little globs.
By this time, Grandmother Tanner had begun breathing again. “Well…Brian, you’re very quiet this evening.”
“He’s always quiet,” Davey said.
“In my day, David, children spoke when spoken to.”
Davey looked at her sympathetically. “That was a loooooong time ago, wasn’t it.”
Grandmother Tanner decided to ignore him, and focus on Brian instead. “Are you looking forward to your new school, Brian?”
“Do you remember when they invented dirt?” Davey asked.
“David, I am having a conversation with your brother.”
“Are most of the people from back in your day dead yet?”
Jeff tried to disguise his laugher as a cough. “Davey.”
Again, Grandmother Tanner turned to Brian. But now she was a little out of sorts. “Well, Brian?”
Brian shrugged.
“What does that mean?” Grandmother Tanner prodded.
Brian shrugged again.
“Brian, I asked you a question.”
“I don’t think he wants to go,” Davey stated matter-of-factly.
Grandmother Tanner scowled. “Young man, when I want to talk to you, I’ll address you.”
Davey scowled back. “I can already dress myself.”
“Jeffrey, will you please control your child?”
“Davey, cut it out.”
“Well I can.” He turned to Granny Jobson to explain. “I just need help wiping sometimes.”
Grandmother Tanner covered her face with her hand. Jeff rapped his knuckles sharply on the table.
“Davey, I mean it!”
Granny Jobson looked at Jeff. “Are you sure it’s such a good idea, sending him away to school?”
Jeff paused, and looked at all the faces looking back at him. “…yes. Yes, it’s a very good idea,” he said, not sounding convinced at all.
“When are we taking him?” Granny Jobson asked.
Jeff slumped down a bit, deflated by guilt. “…day after tomorrow.”
“What?!”
“They normally start back January second, but he’s coming in a semester late, so he has to go in for orientation and get used to spending the night there,” Jeff explained quickly.
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Copyright © 2008 Darren Pillsbury. All rights reserved.
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