Grandfather's Dance Read Online Free PDF Page B

life.
    The end.

12
    A fter Joshua left, it was quiet. Grandfather and Jack went to make sure the animals had water. The rest of us sat under the tents.
    “We’ll have to take these down soon,” said Papa.
    “I suppose,” said Mama. “Maybe we can leave them up for a while.”
    Papa smiled at her.
    “Maybe.”
    “Maybe you can leave them up until Cassie gets married,” said Anna.
    “I already had my wedding,” I said.
    “That’s right,” said Justin. “You had a grand wedding. Where’s that groom?”
    “He’s in the barn with Grandfather and Jack,” I said.
    As if he had heard me, Nick began barking in the barn. Papa stood up.
    “What’s that about? Nick doesn’t bark all that often,” he said.
    Jack came to the door of the barn and looked at us. He was not smiling. His small voice carried on the summer wind.
    “Boppa?”
    Mama stood up. Papa began to run to the barn.
    “Cassie!” he called to me. “Come get Jack.”
    For some reason, I couldn’t move. William touched me on the shoulder and ran to Jack.
    “Boppa!” said Jack more loudly when William picked him up. He pointed over William’s shoulder back at the barn.
    “Sarah?” Papa’s voice sounded weak. His face was pale.
    “Sarah. I need your help. Now.”
    I started to go with Mama, but Aunt Lou held me.
    “I want to be with Grandfather,” I said.
    “I know,” she said, putting her arms around me.
    I began to cry. My heart hurt.
    I knew. Somehow, I knew.
     
----
    My grandfather died in the barn where I had found him when I was a little girl. He had come back then to see the place he loved. He had come back to see Papa. Today he lay down in the hay and closed his eyes there.
    Papa let me see him for a minute because I wanted to. For a minute Grandfather looked just the same. I thought maybe he would open his eyes and smile at me. But he didn’t. And that made him look different.
    When I looked up at Papa he was crying, tears coming down his face like rain.
    That made me frightened.
    “Papa?”
    “It’s all right, Cassie. It’s all right to be sad.”
    I reached over and took his hand and stood there until Mama came to get me.
----
     
    Jack was very quiet. He wouldn’t sit on anyone’s lap. He wouldn’t smile.
    Just before they came to take Grandfather away I took Jack for a long walk so he wouldn’t have to see.
    “You don’t have to do that, Cassie,” Mama said.
    “I know. I want to.”
    Jack and I walked up to the hilltop behind the house and sat under the one tree that grew there. Jack didn’t look at me. He picked a piece of grass and stared at it.
    The aunts had told me that Jack didn’t understand. But I knew better. I took a deep breath.
    “Jack?”
    Jack didn’t look up.
    “Jack, I want you to listen. I want you to listen to something very important.”
    There was silence. Insects buzzed in the grass. Finally Jack looked up at me. His eyes were blue and sharp.
    “Grandfather loved you, Jack. He loved you more than anyone else.”
    Jack stared at me. After a long time he reached over and touched me.
    Tears came to my eyes. I smiled because I knew what he meant.
    “Yes, he loved me, too. And we don’t ever have to forget him. We won’t.”
    Jack didn’t say anything, but I knew he understood my words. We sat for a long, long time. The sun began to set. I stood up. Nothing seemed the same. The land didn’t look the same anymore. The sky looked different. I stared down at the farm that was once Grandfather’s farm.
    There was a small rustle beside me. Jack took my hand, his hand warm in mine. Together we walked down the hill.
     
    Grandfather would have liked his funeral. The aunts dressed up like they had for
the wedding. Even Aunt Lou wore a dress and high-heeled shoes. All the townspeople came. They told stories about Grandfather. Sometimes they had conversations about him.
    “Once he saved a horse of mine.”
    “That horse never should have been saved!”
    “I remember how he loved to cut the