About the Contest

This story is an entry to @tristancarax’s 31Sentence Contest.

If you fancy participating, you can find the contest here.
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Prompt

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The First Sight

“Grandpa, what is this waterfall picture doing among our family photos?” I asked.

I was meaning to ask grandpa that question for 25 years now, and I need to know why this picture adorns the front room wall along with the other family photos.

“It’s grandma.”

“Oh, you mean grandma took this picture and that’s why it’s here?” I think I found the answer, after all.

“No, Alain, my boy, your grandma didn’t take that picture, she is in the picture,” grandpa’s answer was not an answer at all.

My puzzled idiotic look got a smile out of him. I know he missed grandma but now I wondered if he was turning senile. I remained unconvinced and I wanted to probe further.

“I had seen that photo from childhood, even when grandma was there, but never had it anything to do with grandma.”

“It always had to do with her but you never asked me nor your grandma,” grandpa’s cryptic smile followed.

“Wait.. you mean to say that a picture that I thought I understood, I actually did not?” I was probably fuming and my face must have turned red.

“You got the waterfall part right,” grandpa’s response confirmed that my face had turned red.

Grandpa knew me well to know that I had lost it and patronizing me was his way of pacifying me; he still thought I was a kid.

“Ok, let me tell you about the picture,” changing the story was grandpa’s preferred way, though, “I took this picture when I was in Vietnam way after the war. I was trekking when I came across this angelic beauty in the…”

“Did mom know?”

“Of course, my daughter knew,” grandpa waved.

“And she never told me!”

“I am telling you, so let’s get back. In Vietnam the humidity can cause you to sweat your gut out but when I saw her, I felt this cool inside of me which the heat could not thaw. My senses were numb but that moment was frozen, and I had to capture it for my eyes to remember what my heart felt.”

“Wow, that was poetic!”

“A poet is as good as his inspiration and mine was making my heart miss a lot of beats; maybe that was love at first sight.”

I swear grandpa’s spectacled eyes moistened.

“I met her later and it turned out that she too was on a vacation there. I thought she liked me too but I did not waste time and just jumped to the proposal.”

Grandpa was brave, but I had to ask, “where is grandma?”

“Like I said, I captured the moment in that picture and it does include your g’ma but you need to look closely.”

“If grandma was in plain sight, I would have seen her, which, obviously, means she is hiding and you are going to tell me where.”

“Ripples.”

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Image Courtesy: @tristancarax