Chapter One, Episode 124 - Grandma's Sign - Situationally Theirs

Review, Revision, Edit and Update
As I read through this Episode, there were places through out almost every paragraph that seemed very disjointed. Consequently, there have been many revisions, none that change the direction of the story, but hopefully take the kinks out of it. If the writer can't even understand what's been written, expecting the reader to be able to plow through it all is completely unfair. All in all, I did enjoy the original writing and this revision. There were no typo's to deal with, just a lot of rewriting and rewording to smooth out Ben's story.

Thank you to all my readers for your patience! You are all great at giving me bouquets and I appreciate every one of them. Please feel free to let me know about any difficulties you have with my little stories.

Grandma's Sign

Each side of the little duplex had a lovely backyard separated by tall solid fencing, lattice running its length. While Martha lived there, she replaced the fence with a flowering hedge leaving a small space for a gate between the two yards. Martha and her daughter Joanie wanted easy access to one another. Of course, young Ben, her grandson, was in complete agreement. He thought it was a good idea to be able to go to grandma’s house through the little gate in the hedge.

When the duplex had been purchased, Abby had been very tiny so, although she clapped and gurgled, she really had little to say about whether to keep the fence or put in a fast growing hedge.

On Joanie’s side of the hedge, Martha gifted her precious little family with a small jungle gym set, along with a sand box. On her side, she installed a small gazebo with a hot tub. Occasionally Martha entertained various women’s groups, including a bridge club that met once a month. The children would often burst through the gate interrupting a garden party, a bridge game or just some personal quiet time, still learning what privacy meant. Joanie, the children’s mother wracked her brain for a solution that didn’t involve tears, repeated reminders or keeping the gate locked at all times. She and the young girl that often babysat puzzled it over. “Do you think a sign would help, Mrs. Richardson? I don’t know what kind but maybe I could design one with Ben this afternoon.” Tanya Meadows, the children’s baby sitter often did crafts with Ben and his little sister Abby. Using poster board and crayons, she had helped Ben make a sign for the gate. ‘Grandma’s Busy’ on one side and on the other ‘Grandma’s Home’. Joanie loved the idea and the colourful results.” She took the newly designed sign to work, had it laminated and had two holes punched in the top margin. Two cup hooks taken from a kitchen drawer, she and Ben went out to the gate. Mom screwed the cup hooks into the top of the little gate while her assistant Ben, completed their project. He stood on a little wooden box and looked up at his mom “Which side should it be, mom? The Busy side or the Home side?” Joanie bent down to him. “What do you think? Where is Grandma right now?” Ben screwed up his face, thought long and hard and then his face brightened like a lightbulb. “I know! She’s at work isn’t she? So she’s busy, right?” Proudly and with the confidence of a seven year old, he made sure the 'Grandma’s Busy' side was displayed. “Does Grandma know about the sign, mom?” Joanie took Ben by the hand, leading him into the house. “Come on. We'll send her a message on the computer and tell her we have a surprise for her. We’ll ask her to come to the gate in the hedge to get it. Grandma always checks her messages when she gets home.” 

Grandma did indeed love the sign. She always changed it before she left for work and again when she came home. Sometimes she would send Ben a message and ask him to change it. It became a little game that they both enjoyed. 

~~~~~

Several years later, when the sign was bleached and worn, Grandma Martha got married and moved all the way to the far side of the Estate. Everyone was happy for them. Everyone except Ben. He was shy to meet their new neighbour, but she worked with his grandma and she'd be living in his grandma’s house and she drove a motorcycle, so he thought she must be ok. 

~~~~~

One day, when their mother was at work and Tanya was watching the children a problem arose. Busy with Abby and her new colouring books, the very conscientious sitter glanced across the living room to see what Ben was up to. Relieved, she saw him reading the motorcycle book he had been given by the new tenant next door. Sketches of all kinds of motorcycles with short informative paragraphs beneath each picture had him entranced. He read every word and studied the sketches. Every now and then, Tanya heard a "Wow" or "Sweet". Some glossy pages of classic motorcycles with the owner astride the bike weren't studied as intently as the sketches. He thought they were great, - "I'd really like to ride that one!" - but he was more interested in all the parts of a motorcycles. Ignoring his video games, he had pored over the book. But now, it lay open on his lap. Staring blankly at the trees outside, he wore a sad, sad look on his face. Tanya had looked up again: it had become too quiet. “Ben! What’s wrong? You look so sad.” 

Ben turned his big sad brown eyes to her. Tanya had come over to him, sat on the couch and lifted his nine year old weight onto her lap as though he were a much smaller child. “You miss your grandma already, don't you, Ben? She must miss you too.” Without even looking at her, he said in a hushed voice, his lower lip quivering “Sure I miss Grandma, but what about the sign?”. 

Tanya leaned back and looked at Ben quizzically. “What sign?” “You know. The sign. The Grandma’s Busy sign. The one you and I made. Don’t you remember?” Ben was quite frustrated with his favourite babysitter. “You don’t remember, do you?” He slid down from her lap and took her hand, pulling her forcefully to the back door. “Slow down. Let me get Abby, Ben, and I’ll come with you. Where are you going?……….Abby, come with us for a minute. Ben wants to show us something.” Abby jumped off her chair, bringing her crayon and colouring book with her. “It's ok. He’s just going outside to the sign.”

Tanya thought What is with a sign? What’s so important that it makes Ben almost cry? Out the back door, across the back porch and down the steps, something gnawed at the back of her mind. Of course. The Grandma sign! Ben saw Tanya’s face light up. "Now you know don’t you? The sign on the gate isn’t right anymore. We have to take it down."

“A child needs a grandparent, anybody’s grandparent, to grow 

a little more securely into an unfamiliar world”

~ Charles and Ann Morse