The "GrandPap & Me!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just like most summer days for a twelve-year-old boy living in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  That was until my Grandpap arrived to pick me up and take me with him to Roots Country Farmer's Market & Auction in nearby Manheim.  I loved visiting Roots, knowing that my Grandpap might treat me to some ice cream or a donut and perhaps bid on a few animals to bring home with us later in the afternoon.  Well, today was no different than many others in the summer months when we traveled to Roots.  Late Tuesday afternoon Grandpap and I came home from Roots with a small wooden box that had a pigeon in it.  Seems that it was having a tough time maneuvering around in the box and no one else wanted it at the auction.  I could tell my Mom wasn't too happy about it, but she had become used to her father bringing me home with a box or crate filled with some form of living animal or animals.  The following day Mom and I discovered my new pigeon had a broken wing.  Mom and I attempted to splint it with a popsicle stick and her spool of yarn.   A few weeks later the pigeon had pulled off the splint and was moving around with no trouble.  A day or two later I opened the top of the wooden box to feed the pigeon and it flew out of the box!  I was so upset!  Told my Mom I was going to try and find the pigeon.  Wasn't long before I located it on the roof of a garage at the end of our rear alley.  I dug out the small ball of heavy twine I had in my pocket and made a lasso to try and catch the pigeon.  Climbed up on a metal gate between two garages and was about to lasso the pigeon when the gate swung open and I fell...directly onto my right arm.  Ran home crying...holding my right arm.  Mom and Dad saw me coming and seemed to be very upset.  That particular day happened to be their Anniversary and they had made arrangements to go out to eat and take in a show.  Well...they made a trip with me to the hospital and I ended up with a cast on my arm to help repair the broken bone I had received when I fell off the gate.  Never did find the pigeon!  Mom called and told my Grandpap what had happened. Needless to say she and dad weren't too happy about missing their Anniversary meal.  But, that didn't stop Grandpap from taking me to Roots a few weeks later, after my arm was healed, so he could bid on more animals for me.  Wasn't long before I came home with a crate filled with eight guinea pigs which he bid on and won for me.  They later increased to a few dozen before long.  Over the next year or two I managed to sell most of the new born guinea pigs without too much trouble.  I eventually sold enough guinea pigs to buy my first car...a 1953 Henry J coupe which I paid $75 for and which a few months later was partially demolished when hit by a drunk driver in front of my house in Lancaster.  I was heart broken!  I used a large jack to separate the two sides of the car so I could finally sit in it again.  Did a bit more work on it and before long I was able to use it to drive the six blocks to my job at the Acme Supermarket. I must admit that it wobbled a bit and only had one front and two rear windows.   But hey, it still ran!  A day or two later, while at work, a policeman entered the grocery store and asked the manager if he knew who owned the orange Henry J.  Policeman told me I couldn't drive a car without a windshield.  That was the end of my Henry J!  Oh, the stories I could tell about my Grandpap and me are endless!  My Grandpap passed when I was just a teenager, but the memories of our good times together will never die!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.