The Boys Next Door

“Hey Ma! Where are you?” came Trudy’s voice from the front door. I love the girl, but seriously she’s so loud. I wonder how her husband could put up with her.

“I’m in the kitchen, where else do you think I would be?” I replied loud enough for her to hear.

“I thought that the doctor told you to take it easy after your last heart attack,” Trudy said as she entered the kitchen.

“Eh, I’ve lived this long, and I don’t want to live forever. I’ve got to do something to keep me from going crazy,” I told her as I pulled her in for a hug.

“Gramma!” shouted a little voice as footsteps raced into the kitchen.

“Jason!” I said happily as my grandson rushed into the kitchen. He was just 10 years old, but still he loved visiting. It’s probably because I always give him cookies.

“Where’s grandpa?” Jason asked as I picked him up for a hug.

“He’s in the back. Let’s go say hi,” I laughed as I took him by the hand and led him outside to the back of our house.

I spotted him over by the lake, talking to Ted, our next door neighbor. Ted was a nice young man, had a beautiful wife and they had three kids. Their oldest was 29 while their youngest was only 17. And they were all boys. They had just moved in to the house about a month ago. Them moving in kind of reminds me of a time long ago.

“Grandpa!” Jason shouted, letting go of my hand to race over to him.

“Why Jason! I swear you get bigger every time I see you,” Pat gushed as he bent down to give Jason a hug.

Yeah, Pat and I are still together after all these years. I guess you could say that from the moment we laid eyes on each other, we knew it was meant to be. We married the year after both of us graduated from college. We’ve now been married for close to 50 years. That anniversary I believe is next year.

“Nah, I haven’t grown yet. Can we go fishin’ grandpa?” Jason pleaded with him.

“Sure we can. Just be sure not to disturb the ducks swimming on the other side of the lake,” Pat laughed while ruffling Jason’s hair.

Yeah, we have a lake in our backyard. You may not have guessed it, but we live in my parent’s old house. Once Justin and I had moved out, they decided that they wanted a smaller house, so they moved to another house. Sadly, my dad died about 5 years ago, and then my mom ended up passing just over a year ago. They were in their 90’s when they died, and they went peacefully in their sleep, so I couldn’t be too sad about it.

“I don’t know why I had to come out here. My mom says that we need our family to ‘bond’ or something,” said my 17 year-old granddaughter Emily. She was a nice girl, but she had issues with not liking to be around her family. Kids these days really need to not take their family or anyone for granted because they could be gone the next day.

“And there is Emily, on her phone again,” I smiled as she approached.

“Hi grandma,” she smiled as she opened her arms and gave me a hug. “Yeah, I’ll talk to you later Kate. Uh-huh, bye! So I take it Jason got grandpa to go fishing with him again?” she asked when she saw Jason and Pat coming out with fishing poles and a box of bait.

“You know your grandpa, can’t say no to fishing, especially when your brother asks,” I laughed as I smiled at them. “Hey Ted, where is Peter at?”

“I think that he’s around here somewhere. Hey Pete! Where you at son?” Ted called into the house.

“I’m right here! What do you want dad?” Peter asked as he walked out of the house.

“Hi Peter,” I smiled at him. “I just wanted you to meet my granddaughter Emily. Emily, this is Peter Daulhausen and his father.”

“Hi,” Emily said while looking at Peter, a blush forming on her cheeks.

“Hey,” Peter greeted, looking back at Emily just as dazed. I smiled to myself as the two of them walked off towards the woods.

“I saw that,” Pat whispered in my ear as he came up beside me.

“Saw what?” I asked innocently as Ted walked back to his house and Pat and I walked over towards where Jason sat with his fishing pole.

“You wanted to introduce Emily to Peter, and now look what happened. I’d say that they like each other already,” Pat laughed while shaking his head.

“Hey, I’m her grandma. We have these instinctual things inside that we just know who will be best for them. Besides, Peter looked lonely and I didn’t want him to like one of the tramps around here,” I laughed as I looked back to the woods where I saw them disappear.

“You better watch your language around the young one Arole,” Pat scolded me.

“I’m just telling the truth. And he should start to watch out for them too. I’ve heard that kids start early these days,” I said shaking my head.

Jason just looked up me, knitting his eyebrows together as he gave me a weird look. He just shook his head before paying attention to his fishing pole. “I don’t like girls grandma,” Jason said defiantly as he stared out at the lake.

“That’s what you say now buddy,” Pat said while ruffling his head again.

“When did you start liking girls grandpa?” Jason asked, reeling the line in.

“Actually, I was just a little bit older than you when I first started to like them. But I knew that none of them were worth it until I laid eyes on your grandma,” Pat grinned at me.

“You’re so corny love,” I laughed while placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Kinda of like Emily and that guy she walked off with,” Jason stated.

“Now that you mention it, they do remind me of us at that age,” I said happily, remembering the first day that I met Pat and his brothers long ago. It seemed as if it was repeating itself again, but I just hoped that Emily had enough sense to listen to her instincts like I should have done in the first place.

“At least Peter won’t have to compete with his older brothers for her attention,” Pat joked since Peter was 17, and his brothers were 25 and 29.

“What’s the harm in a little competition hun?” I asked.

“It can make you go crazy and possibly get hurt,” he smirked.

“But you won that competition, didn’t you?” I said, leaning my head on his shoulder.

“I really don’t think it was a competition in the first place, since we loved each other from the start,” Pat grinned, placing a kiss on my forehead.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” I grinned as I walked back towards the house to go inside and grab some cookies.

“Hey mom, I have a huge favor to ask of you,” Trudy said right as I walked inside.

“What is it dear?” I asked while moving towards the kitchen to get the cookies, as well as some milk to dip them in.

“I was wondering if you could possibly keep the kids here over the summer. I hate to be a burden, but for the project my group is working on, they’re going on a 2 month trip to Africa, and it’s really important that I go. So, do you think you could take them in for a bit?” She pleaded desperately.

“Sure, your father and I can watch them, but why can’t Hank do it?” I asked, wondering why her husband couldn’t do it.

“Because he’s coming with me. Oh, thank you so much mom! I owe you a lot!” she said as she gave me a hug.

“It’s no problem dear. It’s been starting to get lonely without the hustle of when you and you brothers used to run around all the time. It’s such a shame that they never had any kids yet though,” I said with a sigh.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll come around mom. But for now, don’t you think that Jason and Emily are enough for you to handle?” Trudy joked as she patted my back.

“Nah, I’m a grandma! It’s my job to want lots of grand babies,” I laughed.

“Who is Emily talking with?” Trudy asked while looking out the back window.

“Oh, that’s just Peter from next door. I have a feeling that Emily is going to have a very fun summer,” I smiled to myself.

“Mom, Emily doesn’t need any boys in her life at this age,” Trudy told me.

“Hun, just relax. I was her age when I met your father. Just trust me on this, Emily and Peter will be perfect together,” I comforted her.

“How would you know mom?” she questioned me.

“I’m an elder. You just know these things dear. Now, let’s get these cookies outside,” I said while picking up the plate and carried them outside.

My story was ending out the way it planned. Boy moved next door, girl falls in love with boy and they live happily ever after. Now it seems as if the whole process was about to repeat all over again, only this time with Emily and Peter. Pat and I shared a knowing smile as I walked outside and saw Emily and Peter holding hands. This was going to be an interesting summer indeed, having the new boy next door and my granddaughter. But what happens between them is a whole other story, one that I can’t tell you about myself since I don’t know everything. But for now, I’m happy just to sit back and watch with my very own boy next door.