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Description
My grandpa, his real name was Sidney, but everyone just called him Buddy even though he wasn't very friendly.
He liked my sister-- she was named after his late wife and my grandma-- and I think she was too young to know how much she hurt him when she withdrew from his emaciated body when he went to embrace her...
So he'd bribe her with shortbread cookies, the kind with the white cream in the centre.

I knew he didn't have much more than his little white dog, his tv (which was always turned up far louder than anyone liked), his cigarettes, his black 1982 Cadillac, and his memories of fighting on the American side during World War II. He didn't even have a bed; he just slept away every night on the floor after my grandma died.

I remember the Snoopy phone in the office he never entered; I played with it every time I was there. I remember the old Monopoly game under the tv that went untouched for years. I remember the shelf in the single bathroom with all his bottles of cologne (I always smelled each one when no one was looking).

I remember the yellow plastic ducks, yard ornaments, and how I'd play with them for hours. I remember the small one, one of the "babies", with the broken foot.

But ducks, I told him, are supposed to have webbed feet.

I remember the dog in the yard across the alley behind his garage. It was always outside.

I remember that he made me get on a scale once, even though I complained that I didn't want to (I was ashamed of the number, but I still loved him very much).

I remember sitting with Michael in the living room with the mirror walls and playing videogames, the newest thing in that house in twenty years. I remember Aunt Karen bringing us sherbert, and grandpa's tv booming in the other room.

I remember Charlene, my imaginary friend, and biting my grandpa on the chest while he was sitting once, because I was pretending to be a dog.

I remember asking for a pencil in the third grade because I had to do math homework...
He gave me a pen (we weren't allowed to use pens, but I pretended to use it because I was shy and because I didn't want to hurt his feelings).

I remember his neighbor across the street and the block parties she'd have every year. I remember his mean neighbor next door (I don't remember why he was mean, but he was).

I remember the brown plastic dog food dish in the dining room and the little red and green and brown food pieces inside it...

I remember the mirror closet doors in the master bedroom that he never slept in...
The side door that led to the fenced-in yard...
The front gate.

My aunt and my mom, hovering about the property in the springtime, doing yardwork when he was sick and couldn't do it himself anymore.
Aunt Sandy took me to Wendy's, and I got chicken nuggets; we listened to Shaggy in the car on the way there; she had it on a cassette tape.
We stopped at Dominick's on the way back to pick up groceries and I waited in her Dodge Durango (I waited for a long time, because she saw someone in the store that she knew and hadn't seen in awhile).

We got back and ate outside...
Victor and I walked to that little convienience store a few blocks away (I can't remember the name, and the door and sign are boarded up now, with newspapers along the windows).

At the wake, my mom's friend's daughter was following me...
She was nine, and she thought my cousin Danny was cute. He was seventeen...
He's twenty-five now and he just got married.

That's all I remember about the wake.

Description
My grandpa, his real name was Sidney, but everyone just called him Buddy even though he wasn't very friendly.
He liked my sister-- she was named after his late wife and my grandma-- and I think she was too young to know how much she hurt him when she withdrew from his emaciated body when he went to embrace her...
So he'd bribe her with shortbread cookies, the kind with the white cream in the centre.

I knew he didn't have much more than his little white dog, his tv (which was always turned up far louder than anyone liked), his cigarettes, his black 1982 Cadillac, and his memories of fighting on the American side during World War II. He didn't even have a bed; he just slept away every night on the floor after my grandma died.

I remember the Snoopy phone in the office he never entered; I played with it every time I was there. I remember the old Monopoly game under the tv that went untouched for years. I remember the shelf in the single bathroom with all his bottles of cologne (I always smelled each one when no one was looking).

I remember the yellow plastic ducks, yard ornaments, and how I'd play with them for hours. I remember the small one, one of the "babies", with the broken foot.

But ducks, I told him, are supposed to have webbed feet.

I remember the dog in the yard across the alley behind his garage. It was always outside.

I remember that he made me get on a scale once, even though I complained that I didn't want to (I was ashamed of the number, but I still loved him very much).

I remember sitting with Michael in the living room with the mirror walls and playing videogames, the newest thing in that house in twenty years. I remember Aunt Karen bringing us sherbert, and grandpa's tv booming in the other room.

I remember Charlene, my imaginary friend, and biting my grandpa on the chest while he was sitting once, because I was pretending to be a dog.

I remember asking for a pencil in the third grade because I had to do math homework...
He gave me a pen (we weren't allowed to use pens, but I pretended to use it because I was shy and because I didn't want to hurt his feelings).

I remember his neighbor across the street and the block parties she'd have every year. I remember his mean neighbor next door (I don't remember why he was mean, but he was).

I remember the brown plastic dog food dish in the dining room and the little red and green and brown food pieces inside it...

I remember the mirror closet doors in the master bedroom that he never slept in...
The side door that led to the fenced-in yard...
The front gate.

My aunt and my mom, hovering about the property in the springtime, doing yardwork when he was sick and couldn't do it himself anymore.
Aunt Sandy took me to Wendy's, and I got chicken nuggets; we listened to Shaggy in the car on the way there; she had it on a cassette tape.
We stopped at Dominick's on the way back to pick up groceries and I waited in her Dodge Durango (I waited for a long time, because she saw someone in the store that she knew and hadn't seen in awhile).

We got back and ate outside...
Victor and I walked to that little convienience store a few blocks away (I can't remember the name, and the door and sign are boarded up now, with newspapers along the windows).

At the wake, my mom's friend's daughter was following me...
She was nine, and she thought my cousin Danny was cute. He was seventeen...
He's twenty-five now and he just got married.

That's all I remember about the wake.