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Description

The dog barks, and he stumbles out of the station wagon like he can't get away fast enough only to chase himself in circles in the space in front of the car.

The elderly man undid his grandchild's seatbelt and plucked him out of the car, holding him in the air a few seconds so the bottoms of his shoes, not the sides, could touch the ground. He could barely walk with the weight of a large cast holding everything in place that wasn’t his head or his limbs.

The pond ahead of them was small, ducks skimming along the surface of the somewhat clean water. The boy's favorite thing to do was to toss the biggest stones he could find into the water, not caring if he hit any ducks, narrowly missing any, thankfully. Grampy, the old man, had to pull the toddler away from the water so the dog could get his walk through the woods.

There were no real trails, and if there were the child would have never known it. They were following the same ribbon markings tied to the trees every few yards in front of them. The dog was relatively quiet and could be trusted without a leash, barking only few times had a particularly noisy animal aroused his attention. Grampy would still have the little boy close by, but he wouldn't restrain him or insist on holding his hand the whole way. He would ask every so often why his grandson seemed to be in a trance, stopping everything just to stare out into space. In his mind he was all alone, on his own amongst the wilds. Eventually he would prompt himself back to action as he started jumping off the tallest rocks that didn't intimidate him, running from tree to tree in short bursts of energy and all the sudden stop at a high plateau to see what he had to venture forward to.

If the terrain wasn't interesting enough he'd come up with it himself in his own mind. As he did, spindly bamboo plants and multi colored flowers unusual to the area grew from seed to stem in a matter of seconds all around them. Strange sounds and glimpses of animals were perceptible only by the child, not even the big German Shepard sensed them.

A large crane out in the distance stood between two thin trees, it's pause in motion echoing the child's; staring at him with an air of friendliness-- and a smile! Animals don't smile!

The child pointed out at the creature, calling it by name, making sure his grandfather heard him. "Oh, is he over there?" He said, playfully bending his knees and holding a hand over his forehead.

Then the crane flew away, but he would reappear every so often. Grampy then took the child's hand walking down a steep hill. Not for caution, but affection. The old man was stumbling in his steps, a grimace of effort crossed over his face that the child was unaware of. Even so he would still muster effort to throw a stick for the dog to chase after or twirl the little boy around his arm.

His thoughts interrupted the boy bent down to pick up a thick broken branch shaped at a 90 degree angle, and said it looked like the letter 'L'. Grampy told him he was so smart before picking up another stick for himself. It was much smaller, both thinner and shorter than his grandson's treasure, tucking it in his jeans' pocket for later with one hand while paying attention to keep a firm grip with the other on his grandchild's little palm.

Description

The dog barks, and he stumbles out of the station wagon like he can't get away fast enough only to chase himself in circles in the space in front of the car.

The elderly man undid his grandchild's seatbelt and plucked him out of the car, holding him in the air a few seconds so the bottoms of his shoes, not the sides, could touch the ground. He could barely walk with the weight of a large cast holding everything in place that wasn’t his head or his limbs.

The pond ahead of them was small, ducks skimming along the surface of the somewhat clean water. The boy's favorite thing to do was to toss the biggest stones he could find into the water, not caring if he hit any ducks, narrowly missing any, thankfully. Grampy, the old man, had to pull the toddler away from the water so the dog could get his walk through the woods.

There were no real trails, and if there were the child would have never known it. They were following the same ribbon markings tied to the trees every few yards in front of them. The dog was relatively quiet and could be trusted without a leash, barking only few times had a particularly noisy animal aroused his attention. Grampy would still have the little boy close by, but he wouldn't restrain him or insist on holding his hand the whole way. He would ask every so often why his grandson seemed to be in a trance, stopping everything just to stare out into space. In his mind he was all alone, on his own amongst the wilds. Eventually he would prompt himself back to action as he started jumping off the tallest rocks that didn't intimidate him, running from tree to tree in short bursts of energy and all the sudden stop at a high plateau to see what he had to venture forward to.

If the terrain wasn't interesting enough he'd come up with it himself in his own mind. As he did, spindly bamboo plants and multi colored flowers unusual to the area grew from seed to stem in a matter of seconds all around them. Strange sounds and glimpses of animals were perceptible only by the child, not even the big German Shepard sensed them.

A large crane out in the distance stood between two thin trees, it's pause in motion echoing the child's; staring at him with an air of friendliness-- and a smile! Animals don't smile!

The child pointed out at the creature, calling it by name, making sure his grandfather heard him. "Oh, is he over there?" He said, playfully bending his knees and holding a hand over his forehead.

Then the crane flew away, but he would reappear every so often. Grampy then took the child's hand walking down a steep hill. Not for caution, but affection. The old man was stumbling in his steps, a grimace of effort crossed over his face that the child was unaware of. Even so he would still muster effort to throw a stick for the dog to chase after or twirl the little boy around his arm.

His thoughts interrupted the boy bent down to pick up a thick broken branch shaped at a 90 degree angle, and said it looked like the letter 'L'. Grampy told him he was so smart before picking up another stick for himself. It was much smaller, both thinner and shorter than his grandson's treasure, tucking it in his jeans' pocket for later with one hand while paying attention to keep a firm grip with the other on his grandchild's little palm.