Overhearing a Sad Story

I was at the coffee shop for about twenty minutes, it was early in the morning so most people were just going through the drive through. At around 9 am an older man and what I assumed to be his grandchild entered the coffee shop, as they walked towards a table near me I noticed that the boy had been crying, they then ended up sitting at the table in front of me. Linda approached them and took their order, as she walked away I noticed that the old man, Grandpa, smiled at the boy. Grandpa had a deep voice so I was able to overhear their conversation; apparently they had just gone to the cemetery. By what I was able to overhear, the little boy really liked to listen to the story of how his parents had met. At this point I assumed that Grandpa was the one raising the little boy.

Some of the story I wasn’t really able to hear because as Grandpa began to tell it he lowered his voice. I was able to hear how the little boy was sobbing as Grandpa told the story, every now and then I would hear a soft laughter. I was able to see Grandpas face as he told the story, because I was facing him. He would stare deeply at the boy, and every so often he would smile and laugh with him. After a couple of minutes I was able to hear how the little boy broke down, and as this happened Grandpa said, “Don’t cry! They loved you more than life itself. That’s why you’re still here, they’re watching over you!” When Grandpa said that I automatically assumed that both the little boy’s parents had passed away, this explained why Grandpa was who was raising him. The little boy then got up and went to hug Grandpa, as I saw them hug each other I choked up a bit.

This little boy had lost both of his parents, and Grandpa was the only person he had left. Overhearing that this morning was pretty sad, I didn’t know them, or their story. I only knew what I was able to overhear and as I watched them I was able to tell that, that little boy meant everything to Grandpa.