Come Get Me by Michael Hunter Page B

a little help with
someone that was touched in the head. Just as he was about to
finally listen to the little voice telling him to shut up he
noticed something had changed about her face. As he’d spoke about
Grandma her features began to soften. By the time he’d finished
there he could actually see a tiny smile.
     
    "Well,” she said blowing out the pent up
breath she’d obviously been holding, “now I understand why you were
kinda in a daze when you first walked in. At east it makes a little
more sense.” Laughing slightly she continued, "I was beginning to
think you were a little touched in the head or some idiot depriving
his village."
     
    "No, nothing like that," Jim said reassuring
her. He was right! She did think he was weird. Great, now he had to
do a lot of work to get her to change her mind. Turning his
thoughts back to what he’d been talking about he continued. "I was
just surprised to find someone other than Grandma sitting behind
the counter. I was so used to seeing her it just caught me off
guard seeing you. My mom said something about Grandma retiring but
I guess it kinda went in one ear and out the other. I was still
expecting to see her when I came in.” She looked like she bought
everything he was saying which was good since it was pretty much
the truth. He hadn’t really thought about who would be sitting in
Grandma’s place. Seeing a good looking woman there had just
compounded his confusion. “I've been gone for a long time,” he
continued, “but I guess old habits die hard. I was actually hoping
to see her again but my mother didn’t say much else about her. I’d
kinda like to see her but I don’t know where she lived. Too bad
though, I really missed her." He knew exactly where she lived but
Jill didn’t need to know that. He was just trying to figure out
some way to make sure the conversation continued until he could
direct to something else. He didn’t want to just say hi, bye and
leave. He wanted to get to know her a lot better and if the only
way he could find to do it was to talk about Grandma well, he would
take it. It would surely eventually lead to another topic. He just
had to wait. He actually felt slightly foolish jabbering on and on
the way he was but she didn’t seem to mind. In fact she seemed to
like it. After telling her a little about what he and his friend
used to do in the store he finally finished saying all he could
think of so he grinned sheepishly and shut his mouth.
     
    "Got it all out now?" she joked. He just
shook his head feeling a little more foolish than he had. He knew
he’d been blabbering, he’d just hoped she hadn't noticed. "Now
after all that stuff you said I’m happy to tell you that Grandma is
still alive and as ornery as she ever was. I should know, I'm
Grandma's granddaughter.” She paused to let him take that little
bit in. The surprise must have registered on his face since she
smiled a little wider as she continued. “She still comes in every
now and then to say hi. Heck, you might even see her today.” Seeing
her beaming face Jim figured he might not have messed up as bad as
he thought, maybe things were looking up.
     
    "Well, that sure is good news,” he said
keeping the conversation going. “It’s good to hear she’s still
around." He remembered hearing Grandma speak once or twice about
having a granddaughter but she’d always quickly changed the subject
when somebody asked about her. It seemed to make her sad; the
little girl had never come to visit. Nobody had ever even seen so
much as a picture of her. Then again that wasn’t surprising since
Grandma wasn’t one to go broadcasting her personal life to
everyone. She welcomed you into her store and was nice to you while
you were there and if she saw you on the street but that was about
it. So, now after all these years of only hearing a word here and
there about the girl he finally got to meet her. Jim had to say,
she had been well worth the wait.
     
    "So," she said when