Down Memory Lane

Festive lights were strung everywhere, children running and laughing. The adults sat at the family table, chatting about their lives.

An elderly man sat in a recliner just a room away, watching the fire flicker and lick the air in the fireplace. His aged brown eyes were content behind his rimmed glasses, his gray hair tousled on his head. His cane lay against the glass table beside the recliner for use whenever he wanted to walk.

A young girl, not even five years old, ran by and slowed, looking at her great-grandfather. She looked at the fireplace, and then back at him, her face scrunched up in question. "Grampa Matt, what are you looking at the fire for?"

He turned his attention to her, a smile creeping on his face. "Oh," he sighed. "I'm just thinking about when I was young and could run around like you youngsters."

"Why can't you?" she asked, an honest look in her light brown eyes.

He chuckled. "My legs aren't strong like they used to be. I have arthritis in my knees."

Her eyes scrunched up, puzzled. "You have someone named Arthur in your knees?"

Grandpa Matthew laughed, a few of the adults who overheard her question chuckled alongside him. "No, Abby. Arthritis just means that I'm old," he said, trying to put it in the simplest of terms for her.

"Oh," Abby exclaimed, elongating the word. "I get it now."

Grandpa Matthew thought for a moment before extending his arms towards her. "Come and sit on my lap, Abby. I want to show you something."

Abby obliged, Grandpa Matthew picking her up and sitting her on his lap. "What are you going to show me?" she asked him, some of the other family members gathering around the pair.

"Well, let me ask you this: Do you have a quarter?"

She shook her head. "No, I don't."

Some of the family members smiled knowingly at what was coming, and kept their mouths shut for Abby.

Grandpa Matthew scoffed. "Of course you do! It's right here." He put his hand behind her ear and pulled out a quarter.

Abby's eyes widened as he handed her the silver coin. "How did you do that?" she asked, her eyes widened in amazement.

"A good magician never reveals his secrets," an elderly woman answered from the doorway before she moved toward her husband and great-grand daughter, sitting on the couch next to the occupied recliner.

Abby sighed, and hung her head.

Grandpa Matthew took pity on her and said, “Oh, it’s okay Abby. How about I teach you some magic tricks tomorrow?”

Her eyes lit up at the thought. “Thank you, Grampa!” she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around his neck as she hugged him. He looked up at his Grandson and Granddaughter, silently asking them if it was all right that he’d be teaching their daughter simple magic tricks. They were both smiling, and nodded yes, the Granddaughter exaggerating a sigh before nodding. She was the one that her daughter would be showing her newfound skill after the lesson, and she knew it.

Abby hopped down from Grandpa Matthew’s lap, and he leaned back into the chair, sighing as he went. Most of the family had gathered in the living room, hearing the commotion that was Abby bouncing around, since she was excited to be taught a magic trick the next day.

Grandpa Matthew subconsciously grabbed his wife Audrey’s hand, like he had been doing all of his life. She looked at him and smiled; he smiled back a secret smile for her, which made her smile wider.

“You guys are too cute together,” one of their granddaughters Megan voiced. “How did you meet?”

“Honey, that is a long story,” Grandma Audrey said, a twinkle in her blue eyes.

“Why don’t you tell it, Mom?” their son Daniel asked.

A chorus of agreement flew over the room, causing Grandpa Matthew to agree to tell it. “Fine, fine. We will.”

The younger kids settled down on the floor, the adults grabbing chairs and settling down on the loveseat and couch, finding a place to sit.

“Do you want to start the story, Matt?” Audrey asked him.

He nodded. “Sure. I’ll tell it like I tell bedtime stories, so these kids down here,“ he motioned to the children sitting below him, “will listen to it. Is that fine with everyone?”

They all nodded. “As long as it gets told, I’m fine with it,” someone said.

“Okay, then.”

And he started the story, the room dissolving right before his eyes to the past and all of the people he encountered.