She looked at him…sitting there in his old work pants with black grease on them and white paint…she just looked at him…smoking a cigarette and drinking from a bottle of Schlitz…his gray hair speckled with black…ran his leathery hand through it a couple of times…greasy…hadn’t been washed in days…he let out a laugh…,what you lookin’ at girl…,the old man said…,what are you lookin’ at…,she felt as though she had been caught…staring at him this whole time with eyes the color of emerald…the young woman didn’t know what to say…looked away from him for a minute…,naw…you can look at me…,he said…go on…take a look…,he grinned showing off his old yellowish brown teeth…

The pretty blonde woman turned her head to look at him once more…he lit up another Kent with a match from his drawer in the nightstand…waved the flame out and threw the wooden stick in the tin can that sat on the linoleum tile floor that had burn marks all on it…,what do you remember ’bout me…,he asked her…,tell me what I used to be like…,the man said…she opened her purse and pulled out a picture…an old black and white photo of him in a Navy uniform…with a white sailor’s hat a top short cropped pitch black hair and a big smile on his face…

This is you…,his grand daughter said…this was you…long…long …long time ago when you fought in the war…you used to tell stories about your boat being fired upon…shot at…you used to tell stories…,she handed him the picture…

I don’t know this man…,he said…,you say it’s me…you sure ’bout that…,the pretty blonde wearing a sweater her grandmother had made for her nodded her head…,I was in the service…I fought in a war…,he asked…I don’t recall that…,she took another picture from her purse…this one of a real attractive brunette with brown eyes wearing a jumpsuit as she crouched in the garden pulling weeds with a big smile on her face…,whose that…, he asked…,who is that marvelous creature…,took another swig of beer…held the photo between his thumb and pointer…

That’s Grandma…,she said…that was grandma…you remember her…she was the love of your life…

Where is she…

She went to heaven a couple of years ago…

My word…you don’t say…,she pulled out another picture of a silver haired woman wearing glasses…handed it to him…

Whose this…

That’s Grandma when she got older…just before she passed away…

I say…I don’t remember…who are you…

I’m your grand daughter…

Don’t say…don’t say…did you turn out right…

I turned out right Grandpa…I turned out right…

That’s good…that’s good…if you say so…,the old man closed his thick eyelids…turned his head away from her…and fell asleep…she took her hand and placed it in his…gripped it then slowly let go…he was home…