Stories From Grandpa

‘Tell us a story, Grandpa.’

‘Yeah, tell us what it was like when you were our age.’

‘Alright.  A story about what it was like when I was your age.   Well, let me see…that was an awful long time ago, you understand.’

(chuckles from his audience)

‘It’s hard to remember, so way far back in history…’

(more chuckles; they know him.)

‘So, let me see…Your age.  Well, yes.  I can remember that.  When I was your age, when I went to school, they had guard towers on the corners of the school yard.  And - ’

‘To keep bad people out?’

‘No.  To keep us in.  And under control.’

‘But why?’

’See, you have to understand.  Unlike today, we couldn’t trust our government then.’

‘Why, Grandpa?’

‘Because.,..it’s kind of hard to explain.  You would have had to have been there…

‘You see, in those days, they - we - lived by Power Over, rather than by Power With, and Within.  It was an entirely different way of living, way back then.  

’See, there were two camps, or groups of The People.  There were those who wanted to keep things the way they were, and there were those who wanted to change things - everything.  The first camp believed in the primacy of the individual, and the second camp believed in the primacy of the state, with some ruling over all the others.  The government - ‘

‘What precisely was ‘the government,’ Grandpa?’

‘Well, you see, in those days, some people - ran things.  Made the decisions about things themselves.  The People elected them, of course - ‘

‘What’s ‘elected,’ Grandpa?’

‘Dearie me, so many questions…’

‘Sorry, Grandpa.  I just - ‘

‘I know, I know.  You just want ‘to know’ things.  And I don’t blame you.  I was always that way myself.  But other people weren’t all that interested in ‘knowing’ things. And that’s how we got into so much trouble…’’

His audience fell silent, with the old man.  They knew better than to press him when he went that way.  They waited, politely.

‘Huh?  Yes.  Where was I…I know, I was talking about the two camps of people.  And the one camp fell asleep.  And the other camp waited their time.  And then -

‘they pounced on the other camp.’ 

It was electrifying; he seemed all of a sudden to have changed before their eyes, into something of a demon.  Which they knew about, from other stories he had told them, about The Old Days.  They took an inbreath as one; and then waited for him to continue. 

‘While they were still asleep.  And herded them into camps - real camps, these were.  Complete with… well, you don’t want to know those details.’

‘Yes - please tell us, Grandpa, some of those details.’

‘No.  Believe me; you don’t - want - to know.’

He stared at them, opaquely.

They believed him.    

He finally softened, and continued.

‘And that was the way things were, for awhile.  Until one day, there came 

‘The Event. ……’

‘What was that, Grandpa?’

‘What?  Oh.  The Event.  Yes.  Well.  That was…something else…’  He checked out for a moment.  And then came back; and said to his audience: ‘Now run along.  And leave an old man to his memories.  Of the bad old days.  But still, how we got here, in the end.  That's another story, for another day.’

They left, quietly. From much experience, they knew when they had lost his attention.

The old man sat on for a while, musing silently, under his favorite tree.

‘Yes.  That was something else, indeed,’ he murmured after a time.  

And then walked slowly back to his Old People’s Home.  Thinking, on the way:

Some things change.  Some things stay the same.

On this plane of existence.