From the Vault-Short Fiction (Installment 3 of 5)

Last updated on: January 13, 2016 at 11:00 am by Shane Phipps

From the Vault-Short Fiction (Installment 3 of 5) 2016-01-13T11:00:35-04:00 Shane Phipps

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Today’s short story blast from the past, entitled Grandpa Stories, was written in 1991 when I was living in Los Angeles. All I can say about this one is that California must have been rubbing off on me. This one is a little different…

Grandpa Stories

By Shane Phipps (written 1/29/91)

“I can’t really begin to tell you how I felt that day,” said Grandpa. With his two beloved grandsons sitting on the rug in front of his oaken rocking chair, the old gentleman began to spin his yarn, the very tale that had been spinning in his own head for over 25 years. Seven year old Jeff and his brother Andy, 13 months his junior sat at the old man’s feet listening, with rapt attention. “Tell us, Grandpa, tell us!” “He he he,” the old man chuckled, “Well, I’ll try my best but, boys, it’s been a lot of years, yes sir, it’s been a mighty long time.”

The old man leaned back in his rocker and fidgeted with his scraggly beard, trying to weed through the hazy details of the many years. The story was a rather complicated one and, because of its sometimes mature nature, he would certainly have to tip-toe through some of its more graphic portions. But, not wanting to disappoint his young admirers, he decided he could form a tolerably toned down version.

“Well, boys,” began the old man, measuring his words with care, “it was, as I said, a long time ago. You first must understand that times were very different back then. People didn’t act the same or look the same as they do today. Our music was different. Instead of Vanilla Ice and M.C. Hammer, we had the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. We heard different things in our music…and that’s important to remember. Our music spoke to us…it REALLY spoke to us. Also, at that time, we were mixed up in a war that no one wanted or understood. It was an altogether crazy time to be alive. But I was hanging out with a crowd that saw things the same way I did and they understood me. Really, they were the only people I knew who seemed to appreciate my point of view.They began to sort of look up to me and, after a short time, I was seen as the leader of our group. We decided to go off and live together in a commune out in the country. A whole lot of young folks were doing that in those days. You’ve probably heard the term ‘hippies’, well sir, I guess that’s what we were…to the outside world anyhow. Anyway, your grandpa started getting some crazy, far-fetched notions in his head. I say crazy and far-fetched now, but I didn’t think so then. I thought everybody ought to be free to live like me and my group were living and the way I saw things, that just couldn’t happen unless some changes were made. I mean drastic changes. There were too many ‘fat cat’ types running things in society, the way we saw it. Of course, the government and the police had a different idea but, at the time, that just didn’t matter to us. The way we had it figured, we just had to show the world our way of life no matter how wrong ‘respectable society’ said it was. After all, society hadn’t had a real chance at our way, and how fair was that? Well, boys, your old grandpa started masterminding some plans that sometimes strayed beyond the law and, before you know it–and let this be a lesson to you, your old gramps and his friends had bitten off a good deal more than we could chew. I’ll spare you boys some of the details because I know you’ve seen the police reports and some of the pictures…

At that moment the door opened abruptly, startling the old man and the boys. “Time’s up,” said the prison guard, “visiting hours are over.” The two boys sprang up from the floor and hugged the old man tightly. “We love you, Grandpa Manson.” The old man smiled his creepy smile and replied, “I love you too, boys, see you next week.”

Creepy tales

Short Stories

Uncategorized

Previous Post

January 12, 2016

From the Vault-Short Fiction (Installment 2 of 5)

Next Post

January 14, 2016 From the Vault-Short Fiction (Installment 4 of 5)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 150 word story 2nd Amendment AARP abortion addiction aging alcoholism Anderson Wigwam Andrew Jackson Appalachia Basketball bias bigotry Black Lives Matter Christianity Christmas, Constitution, Bill of Rights Civil War Clinton cloning confirmation bias Conservation Constitution Controversial Creationism Creepy tales David Bowie depression Dogs Education Election Electoral College Empathy Environmental Evolution exvangelical faith Family Family History Fantasy Genealogy Genesis George Washington Ghetto Global Warming Gun Control health care High School Basketball Hillary History Hockey homosexuality Hoosier Hysteria Hoosiers Hunting immigration income inequality Interview ISTEP Jurassic Park Kaepernick Ken Hamm Kids say the Darndest things LGBTQ Love MAGA Manifest Destiny Merit Pay Mike Pence Muhammad Ali Multiple Perspectives Music Music Review Nashville News media NHL No Child Left Behind NRA Paradox Parenting Pence Perspective Politics POTUS Poverty Predators Race Religion religious freedom Sci Fi Science Secret of Life sexual harrassment Short Stories Slavery Small Town Indiana Smashville Social Commentary social media sports Stress technology Terrorism Thomas Jefferson Trauma Trump Turning 50 Uncategorized war Washington DC White Privilege wooly mammoths words in red Writing Writing Process Writing, Writing Process Young Earth

Select a Month June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 August 2021 May 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who replaced Haman as the king's chief adviser?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Sanballat Zerubbabel Ezra Mordecai

Support this
Column