Watching my grandpa walking besides me slowly. I could see the defined

wrinkles on the old man’s face. I bet I’d get a good beating if he

heard that I called him an old man. The sun was shining brightly.

He had to squint his eyes in order to see properly. He was walking

carrying a cane made of teakwood. An extravagant cane, for sure. But

for an old man like him, it probably was an impending sense of aging.

Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. I always observed him sitting on the

front of the porch and sipping tea, talking about the good old days.

Today, it was one of those days when he was very quiet. God knows,

what’s going on in his mind? We kept on walking and finally sat down

by the riverside. I helped him sit down. The way he looked at the

river was as if he was reminiscing something. Something lost in time.

Seeing his eyes getting wet, I decided to talk.

“Grandpa? Are you ok?”

“Uh-huh. Yeah.”

“Then why are you crying?”

“It’s just a beautiful day, kiddo.”

“No, I know that you’re hiding something from me. Will you tell me please?”

“Well. You won’t understand.”

“Why won’t I?”

“Because you’re too young to understand things like these.”

“No, I will understand. Why don’t you tell me? You will feel light.”

After convincing him for a while, he agreed.

“Kiddo, you know what. I should just tell you because I ain’t gonna

live forever.”

“No one is going to live forever, grandpa.” I said.

“Yes. “He said and started to tell me a story.

“40 years ago. A young man in his 20s used to do fishing here. The

good old days, Oh God. You don’t know. He used to spend hours and

hours just to catch trout and other fishes. In winter, the river would

freeze and it would be difficult to fish, so he and his fellows would

skate. The frozen river would look like a bed of glistening diamonds.

Beautiful yet cold. One day, he saw a beautiful girl was skating. The

girl was so wild. Open hair, wearing mittens and a long black cloak.

She was so beautiful, I’d dare say.”

“She looked like a snow queen. Not afraid of anything. Just a

beautiful wild red rose. The moment the young man saw her, he fell in

love and before he could realize. He was starting to skate towards

her. And both of them bumped into each other. The young man didn’t do

it on purpose. He was bewitched by her beauty. And when she shyly got

up, smilingly and held out her hand to pick him up. He was blushing.

In those days, men were considered to be strong, dominant and not like

a willy like him. He smiled at her and plucked some courage to skate

with her. She agreed. Both of them, skated with each other for hours

and hours. Daily they would come and skate with each other. Soon they

fell in love.”

My grandpa continued and I was falling in love with his story

“Summer came and the river melted. The young man wanted to visit her

daily but she came from the other village, which was across the

riverside. It was very agonizing. He was determined to meet her so he

spent all his savings to buy a little boat. One day, the girl told him

about her parents. They wanted her to marry someone. He was

devastated. He was poor. He didn’t have enough money. He was

unemployed. He asked to meet her parents. He went to meet them and

told them that they loved each other. Luckily, the parents agreed and

they got married.”

“Marrying her was the biggest happiness in his life. Soon after their

marriage, he got work in a good company. Slowly, slowly he established

his business. His wife bore him 3 children, two sons and one daughter.

He was the happiest man alive. Life went on. His wife had promised to

give him love, care and support. She had fulfilled them all. It’s just

that she died early. The man now in his forties, was broken. Time was

too cruel. Death took away the most beautiful being from him. His

beloved wife.”

Grandpa broke down and tried to get up. I held his hand and patted it.

Trying to comfort him. We started walking until we reached a

graveyard.

“Let me introduce to her.” He said. We walked and stood before a

grave. It read, “Mary Bloom, 1954- 2013, a great wife and mother. I

was dumbstruck. It was my late grandma. I never got a chance to meet

her. Well, if this is the girl in the story then the young man was my

grandpa!!

He never told us how he met her because he’d always start crying.

“You left me too early. You don’t know what it feels like. We had made

a lot of promises. You’d die with me, why did you leave me?” He

sobbed. I consoled my grandpa and said, “Don’t worry grandpa. It was

God’s will. We’ll all see her soon.”

Saying this, I walked away and brought a bouquet of flowers. We both

paid our respects to her and placed the roses on her grave.

“Kiddo, Love is the essence of life. Don’t forget.” He said.

“I won’t grandpa, I won’t.” I answered.

We had a jolly time in the evening. He cracked up jokes with everyone,

how I had once bullied my brother for a toy, how granny once punished

him and he had to sleep in the cowshed etc etc.

The next day, we all learned that he had passed away. He died in his

sleep. It was a devastating news for everyone. My father was trying to

man up and not cry but tears betrayed him. We respected his last wish

and buried him besides his wife. I smiled although my heart wept.

Everyone wept on his grave and slowly, they all left. I was left

alone. I placed two bouquets. One for him and one for her.

“I hope that you two are united now, grandpa.” I said.

As I was walking back home, I saw two butterflies. Both of them were

blue in color. I can’t exactly recall the species but they looked like

Blue Morpho butterflies. It was if they were waiting for me. I held

out my hand and both them came onto it. They sat for a few seconds and

then flew away. It was as if they were grandparents, wishing me

farewell. I continued walking home then.

Grandpa’s words echoed in my mind.

“Love is the essence of life.”

The end.