***
The contours of the coarse beach sand bent around the tiny blanket that lay under Norman’s back. The gentle rumble of the ocean’s waves danced humbly in his ears, performing a percussion of nature that topped anything he had heard in many years. The songs of seagulls rode in unison with the tunes of the seaside, topping a symphony that had been booming for hours. Chatty voices of young and old tourists filled in the remaining notes to complete the score of his naptime dreams.
Norman awoke to a bright blue sky stretching from the edge of the ocean to the deep horizon of hotels and other city wildlife. He donned his glasses to see clusters of beachgoers strutting around in denim shorts and uniquely shaped swimsuits. Some people walked along the shoreline, while others took shelter under umbrellas in the sand, while others still jumped and ducked waves in the ocean. The sun’s rays hit the sand with high intensity, so he placed a pair of sunglasses over his regular glasses. They didn’t fit well, but they were better than nothing.
The salty air ebbed and flowed around him, clearing out his lungs from the stuffiness he had endured for years at the nursing home. For the first time in a long time he felt as though he could truly breathe. As he inhaled deeply to fill his lungs with fresh breathing air, a little red Frisbee zipped by, crashing into the sand a few feet away. As he watched a young teenager run past him to retrieve it, a familiar voice sounded behind him.
“Hey, Grandpa,” said the voice from a few feet away. “Long time, no see.”
Suddenly startled for the first time since the holidays, Norman anxiously flipped over on his belly to see the owner of the mysterious voice face-to-face. Only the owner wasn’t so mysterious after all, but rather possessed the facial features of both his oldest son and his daughter-in-law. The visage and the moment became nearly overwhelming for him to bear. It took a second or two for Norman to remember how to speak.
“Jimmy,” he finally spoke, “how did you find me? And what happened to you?”
Jimmy, his grandson, carefully knelt down in the sand a couple of feet from Norman’s shoulder. His face was scratched and he wore an arm sling. Norman noticed him wincing as his knees touched the earth.
“Well,” said Jimmy softly, “I got into a bad accident a few weeks ago, but I’m recovering. I’d rather not talk about it though. Regarding how I found you, you left my dad a note. He won’t be here ‘til later.”
Norman stared at the young man’s face, wondering how much of his own managed to find its way into his genetic code. He hadn’t seen the boy in almost two years. It was getting harder to remember how he looked.
“Why don’t you ever come to visit?” Norman asked. “Are you ungrateful?”
“Of course not, Grandpa. I’ve just been busy. You know how it is. I wanted to come so many times, but my schedule wouldn’t allow it.”
“Couldn’t you have made time for me anyway?”
“I tried on several occasions, but it took a major accident to finally free up my schedule. I guess that’s inexcusable, and I apologize for that. But I’m here now, aren’t I? With plenty of time on my hands. Congratulations on your hundredth birthday, by the way.”
Norman wanted to argue about his grandson’s oversight, but he thought that maybe it was just better to appreciate everything as it was. He thanked Jimmy for making the effort to find him out here, and asked him to continue to do what he thought was best for the moment.
“Thanks for understanding,” said Jimmy. “I’m not ungrateful.”
“I know,” said Norman. “But, if you don’t mind, I’d like to just stare at the waves right now. I’m not feeling so well, so I just want to relax. If you want to come back a little later, we can talk then.”
Jimmy had a confused look on his face.
“Didn’t you want to see the beach house?”
Norman tried to sit up. For some reason, he was having trouble. Jimmy helped him up.
“I did. Yes. Thanks for reminding me.”
Jimmy helped his grandfather to the back porch and let him in through the sliding glass door. Inside, Norman got to feel his living room for the first time. It was musty for a place that was supposed to circulate the sea breeze around all year long. And the vertical blinds on the sliding glass door blocked out most of the natural light that would’ve refreshed the room. He was expecting something a bit livelier.
“Does no one ever air the place out?” he asked.
“Sometimes,” said Jimmy. “We’re not always here, though.”
Norman nodded.
“Walk me around the rest of the house.”
Norman was surprised at how small the place was as he moved from room to room. And dark. All of the west windows, which overlooked the garage and the kitchen, had shades drawn. The south windows belonging to the bedrooms and bathroom were unshaded, but a series of hedges were so overgrown that they didn’t let much light in. Norman was surprised at how dank a place by the ocean could get.
When he returned to the living room, Jimmy helped him down onto the sofa.
“So, what do you think?” Jimmy asked him.
Norman thought about it. He wasn’t disappointed by what he saw, just surprised. He thought of the things that he might’ve done to the house had he been given the chance to live here, but because he was near eighty when he’d bought it, he wasn’t exactly sure how much energy he would’ve had to see his vision for it come to light.
“I don’t know,” he said. “It’s fine I suppose. Just dark.”
“Yeah, when the sun sets, the glare through the kitchen is a beast. Mornings are worse, though, hence the blinds on the sliding glass door.”
Norman rested for a moment as he stared at the modern furniture dotting the living room. A television larger than he’d ever owned himself rested on a stand at the head of the room. Next to it was a series of shelves that held potted plants, family portraits, books, and some rectangular things he didn’t recognize.
“What are those?” he asked, as he pointed at the rectangular things.
Jimmy followed his finger.
“Videotapes,” he said. “They’re movies.”
Norman glanced at him.
“Is that what I’ve been hearing about all these years? What is it? VCR?”
“Yeah, actually it’s all going to DVD, but yeah, they’re movies. Want to watch one?”
Norman liked the idea of watching a movie with his grandson, but he had watched so many at the nursing home that he was tired of them.
“I think we got a VCR at the home. But I hadn’t seen the little rectangles they play lying around anywhere.” He shook his head. “Eh, I can’t keep up with the world’s rate of technological progression anymore.”
And in that moment, as he considered that thought, he remembered why he needed to get back to the beach house in the first place.
“Tell me, Jimmy,” he said. “Did your father keep any of the old antiques from the previous owner like I’d asked him?”
“Not sure. I would’ve been too young to remember.”
Norman nodded.
“How much of a scamp were you growing up?”
Jimmy laughed.
“Pardon?”
“When you were a little boy, did you try to get into everything?”
Jimmy nodded.
“Of course.”
“Did you ever happen to find a book, a journal, a sheet of paper, or anything that might’ve had a list on it? A list like roots, or crushed bugs, or purple pollen of some kind?”
Jimmy narrowed his eyebrows as his smile went awkward.
“No, but that would’ve been amazing.”
Norman frowned.
“Did you get into everything, or just a lot of things?”
“I don’t know. A lot of things.”
“Any secret passages under the floor I should know about?”
Jimmy laughed again.
“Grandpa, are you feeling all right?” Jimmy put his hand to Norman’s forehead. “You’re feeling kinda warm.”
“Bah, just a cough and some mild discomfort. Have you found nothing?”
“No secret floors here. Just an attic.”
“Any boxes in the attic you went through?”
“I probably searched them all at one point or another. Found a lot of old things, but nothing I cared about at the time.”
“No notes of a scientific or medicinal nature?”
Jimmy shook his head.
“No, Grandpa. I did find an old sewing machine in one of the boxes. That was kind of cool. But nothing like that. The only notes I found were old receipts and grocery lists and things like that.”
“I don’t suppose any of those lists had crushed bugs or dried blood on it, did they?”
“Afraid not.”
Norman nodded. He wasn’t surprised. After all he had gone through in life, he wasn’t the least bit surprised.
“What movie did you want to watch?” he asked Jimmy.
Cards in the Cloak Page 27