The Grandpa Stories by Roger Grimson

Author:Roger Grimson [Grimson, Roger]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781467872874
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Published: 2012-01-11T00:00:00+00:00

The Tenant

The sign boldly called down from the front door of the magic shop to the street: ROOM FOR RENT. A sinister-looking figure was moving from the street to the door.

Grandma saw him coming.

He was dressed in dark clothing, and his face was hidden deeply inside a huge dark gray hood. He walked as if gliding, his cloak evoking thoughts of wings. His hood was angling from right to left as he flowed forward, as if to warn the moths to keep back. He was a giant.

Grandma was in the front area of the store. She was in charge of screening potential roomers for the vacant attic room in the store. But in watching his approach, she had nothing but negative feelings about the stranger.

“The rent is high here,” Grandma offered, backing away as the hooded giant bent down to enter the store. “The rent is…”

“I am not here to rent,” the awful giant interrupted. “I’m here to see Exi and Chel.”

Grandma nearly collapsed at the thought.

The hooded giant swiftly walked past Grandma and through the doorway to the backroom workshop, where Grandpa and the two girls were working on a new magic trick. He closed the door behind him.

Grandma took a deep breath, tiptoed to the workshop door, and listened in. She heard nothing. Then she walked in.

Grandpa and the girls were working on their project. “Hi, Grandma,” the girls said.

“Any good prospects for a tenant yet?” Grandpa asked, focusing downward at nothing.

“Where’d he go?” Grandma demanded.

“Where’d who go, Grandma?” Exi returned.

“The tall hooded creature that just came through this door, that’s who!” Grandma exclaimed.

Grandpa and the girls looked at each other, and then they looked back toward Grandma. They all appeared unconcerned.

“A tall hooded creature?” Chel queried.

“Yes! Don’t tell me I’m seeing things. He walked right past me and into this room.”

Silence.

Grandma felt that the three of them might as well have been winking at each other. She noticed part of an empty dark gray hood on the floor, spilling out from behind a cabinet near the back door.

She mulled over all of this for a second. Then she turned and briskly walked back into the front of the store, feeling as though she had been the victim of a trick played by loved ones. She felt betrayed, hurt.

Forty minutes later, Grandpa and the girls paraded into the front store area to tell Grandma about their new successful stunt involving a tall hooded creature. Instead, a regular and trusted customer was standing there by herself.

Grandpa glanced around. “Oh, hi, Joan! Where’s Lyn?”

“Oh! Hi. Well, I don’t know now,” Joan said. “We were both here not more than a minute ago, when this freaky-looking giant hooded… creature… appeared at the door. Lyn smiled and assured me that it was only a joke. She said it was the girls and you stacked on each others’ shoulders and buried in a cloak. So you three offered an arm, and off you went. But now you and the girls are here!”

“Oh God, where’d they go?” Grandpa was horrified.

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