Dear Readers,
There was no option to nab pretzels in the tunnel this time! I wonder if I messed up my chance... In any case, I had another chat with Miss Rosa.
I greeted her and asked if she was feeling better. She said she was as good as could be expected and we got talking about granddad again.
She said Possum Springs was built on their backs and the backs before them. She said they didn't pay people in real money, only with little tokens and bills stamped with the company name. They were used to buy company goods at the company store. I told her I was shown some of those in school, weird quarters and stuff.
She said my grandfather remembered and that his own daddy experienced it first hand. She talked about the mine boss driving up in a big fancy car and my grandfather running out of the dance, he being a bit drunk or just stupid in some brave way. It was the night she met him. He shouted "The guts of all bosses!" and he had a hunting knife, which he used to slash the boss's tyres! I laughed out loud at this, enthralled with the story! She said then that he picked up a rock and put it through the windshield, before climbing up and... and then she paused, saying the next part was a bit rude. I implored her not to stop! She continued, saying he peed through the hole he made in the windshield!
I said this was amazing! I asked if they caught him and she said naw, that only she and a few other folks saw it. She then went over to him and together they went down past the A Ok Drug store, into the big field, which was now a parking lot... and one thing led to another. Whoa... I was about to ask something but... there was a pause between us.
After this pause I asked what happened to the car. She said it got towed away and the police couldn't get any witnesses as they weren't snitches about that kind of thing. I said "damn right" and she said that was why I had troublemaker blood with a "heh heh heh!". I told her I never knew this! She said she didn't think my daddy knew either! I said I bet he didn't and she asked me if I was gonna tell him! I said "No" to this big decision!
She said I was a secret keeper like her. I liked this notion, but I also said I thought it'd be a weird conversation to have. Then she said something that gave me a lot of food for thought; she said "You may find someday it isn't so strange.". She said she wanted to pass this story on to me, about this one night, this one thing granddad did out of his lifetime of nights of things he did. She said whatever I wanted to do with this story, was part of my story now. I was dying to find out more about granddad but she said she couldn't talk more for now. She said I would see her sooner or later. I hope so!
I can't wait to learn more about granddad! What a story this was! Wow! I feel a good connection with him now. That part with the food for thought... maybe secrets lose their priority when you're older and you need to share something with the world before you leave it... *sigh*
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