Leaves

by Luke Lester

Toby always gravitated towards his grandfather. His grandfather was a jokester. Twisting words, telling minor fibs to keep Toby on his toes, in his loving way preparing him for the world of liars and charlatans. He would do funny voices and make fun of Toby's ears, so the good-looking young tyke didn't grow up conceited.

When he was younger, Toby had a dog named Charlie who lived with his grandparents because they had a place out in the country. He would spend hours playing fetch with Charlie. Toby gave the dog some of his stuffed animals that he treasured to keep Charlie company as a pup. Charlie was a vicious guard dog to intruders yet would jump up and lick Toby's face when he came to visit his grandparents. When Charlie had to be put down, they didn't tell Toby until after. He would have liked to say goodbye.

Relationships and friendships throughout life came and went... Toby would lose interest; they would lose interest... like his mother, he would find some kind of impasse he was not willing to compromise on, and he would let them go. People leave in many ways.

One of Toby's earliest memories was when he was a baby his grandmother would wipe off his face after he ate. Toby returned the favour snatching the cloth and wiping his grandmother's face back. Seems only polite to do so. When Toby was a toddler, his grandmother taught him to read. They would spend hours together as Toby sounded out those Peter and Jane readers. Near the end of her life, his grandmother was in a care home. He would speak to her on the phone for a bit, often challenging because she needed to use the bathroom so often. She filtered through a list of names within the family to find his... "Charlie, Cheryl, Tim, Toby..." as she misplaced her marbles.

On some level Toby knew when his grandmother was approaching the end. Yet it was still a shocker out of the blue he got a call at work from his Uncle Tim, that his grandmother had passed... he would have liked to say goodbye.

One morning, Aunt Cheryl phoned to say that his grandfather was on his last leg, and Toby should call him. His grandfather loved him and encouraged Toby to pursue his love of singing. Toby called up his grandfather in the hospital, and he sang "You've Got a Friend". His grandfather couldn't speak anymore, but afterwards the nurse who had been holding the phone told him, "I don't know what you said to him but he's smiling with his whole face!"

He finally got a chance to say goodbye.