Matthew's Special Friend
Well, there was this boy, Matthew. He was about six years old. He and his grandpa were really close. Matthew really admired his grandpa. He liked to listen to his grandpa tell stories about the days fighting World War ll. He like to follow his grandpa around like a lost puppy. Grandpa would take Matthew to the grocery store just to get some Hostess fruit pies. Matthew really liked this fruit pies. One time when Matthew wanted to take a walk with his grandpa, Grandpa told him he couldn't because he had a bone in his leg. Matthew thought this was some serious diease and wondering if he has a bone in his leg. With this excuse Grandpa easily got out of walking that time.
Later, when Matthew was eight years old, his grandpa got really sick and was in the hospital. Matthew kept hoping that grandpa would be able to overcome this. Matthew really wanted Grandpa around to share his life with him. When Grandpa got home from the hospital, he was told he had to use a wheelchair. Matthew had heard about wheelchairs and wanted to be able to push his
grandpa around. When Matthew asked grandpa, Grandpa told him he could. But, Uncle Dick didn't think it was right that someone Matthew's age should be behind the wheelchair pushing.
Grandpa told Uncle Dick to layoff of Matthew because all that
mattered was that Grandpa trusted him and that meant he could push him around if he wanted to. When it seemed that grandpa would be dying any day, because he was bed-ridden, Matthew was in Grandpa's bedroom with his little brother Jack. Grandpa called Matthew by name and asked him to come and help him with the shake that he was drinking.
Matthew's realatives told him he must have meant something special to his grandpa because he was the last person that his grandpa called by name. When Grandpa died, Matthew was upset because he had lost his best friend. But, as time moved on he begun to accept it.
Matthew admired his grandpa so much, that he still thinks of him and seeks to make him proud, even though it has been ten and a half years since his grandpa died.
by Tyler W. Bangerter
tbang13@juno.com
Tyler wrote this story for his cousin Austin Wimmer. Austin wasn't lucky enough to grow up around Grandpa Miller. In the story the reference to "A bone in the leg" meant that Grandpa's legs weren't working right that day. Tyler is a freshman at ODU in Norfolk majoring in Criminal Justice.
