The Good times of Grandle street

Grandle Street(West Virginia) 1977

The laughter of children playing and running. The chatters of rumors activities, drama take place here at Grandle street. The news from the radio outside some ones porch documents the release of the new balance brook shoes. The community was as a whole working together making it a better place, and John our protagonist is now a teenager and as a normal teenager he went bowling with his friends, and after a while took a trip to the arcade. These were normal things teenagers would do in the 70's. The only cycle for John and his friends were going to school and hanging outside, Or watching cartoons.

John had a friend named Ronald, and he was the only one with a decent T.V set, So whenever John and his friends visited they would take turns fixing the T.V. Once the T.V was set they would watch all sorts of cartoons ranging from Looney toons, Tom and jerry, The underdog show and much more. Going out, watching cartoons was the best thrill of John's life and these experiences stayed as a memory in Johns mind. John never thought life would change, and he liked it that way. The way it used to be.

Grandle Street(West Virginia) 2022 present day

John was now in his 60's and was at his desk reading a article on his phone. He had 3 children and a beautiful wife. He never had much interaction with his kids as they were usually playing on their desktops trash talking with their so called "digital friends." John usually was light on his kids, but he still had his limits. He sat their and sighed until he heard a big thump coming from the storage room. He walked to the commotion, and discovered his photo album from the 70's lying there.

John guessed it fell from the tall closet above him. He decided to take a break to his eyes and review the album. His mom sent a photo album of him many years back, But never cared to read it as he thought they were all irrelevant photos, But he decided to give it a shot, and read it. He opened to the first page and saw him as a baby wrestling his teddy bear. Below that he saw his photo when his parents were celebrating his first birthday. He laughed at the frown he had in the picture.

He passed a few pages glancing occasionally at his baby photos until he got to the pictures of his friends and him celebrating his 13th birthday. The photos then followed up with John and his friends roller scatting, and going to the bowling club for the first time. Memories flooded back in and John remembered all the things he did with his friends, and his family. He saw a photo where there were trillions of stars in the sky and it was incredible, But now there was barely 2-3 because of pollution. He saw a photo below that where his friends had a sleepover whit him at his backyard sleeping beneath the graceful stars.

The cartoons he watched all came back flooding to him the golden age of entertainment he thought. Photos of him graduating and marrying the girl he loved were there placed in a album so valuable that John just realized the importance of the album. He stared at his phone at his desk, and thought how it sucked the life out of him compared to the days he actually adventured, and had real fun with friends instead of starting at a desktop 24/7 talking to random friends online just to forget about them right when you leave.

John stood in utter silence awing the last few pages of the album. He closed it, and this time put the album in the important box instead of the give away. He went back into his house and stared at the blank sky with a few stars shining and said, "Everything is changing." John knew he had to accept the change he just now realized, and he went into his house.

Instead of grabbing his phone he grabbed his family to the living room and had family time for the first time in months. John time he felt like he was back in the 70's in Grandle Street where he had the best time of his life. His kids groaned eager to go back on their desktops, But John knew well on how to stop them. "So I brought you guys her as I want you guys to realize the importance of family, So we are going to be playing a board game."

All the kids groaned except form him and Emily his wife. John went to the storage room and got a well preserved vintage Monopoly set. He went back to the living room, and placed it on the carpet. The game was pretty much like the recent monopoly, But with a old fashioned look and scent. Johns kids were at first very distracted from the game, But they soon started to get the hang of it. They started to laugh, and scream, and this was all the joy John needed.

Emily finished the game by making everyone bankrupt, and they all laughed it off. John then said, "How about we have a board game night every Friday." His kids were at first very hesitant, But eventually agreed. This was a nice step towards bringing his family together, and to John that's all that mattered. John then took his phone and started to call all his family members, and friends he was still in touch with, and all the discussions he had made him remember his past. From that day onwards he learned that his past was the most important part of him, and he shouldn't forget it or loose it as it is meant to stay with you forever and ever.

THE END

Authors note: To all the adults reading this please appreciate the old times. Those were probably where you made most of you memories. Not in front of electronics. When you have free time think about all the stuff your family and friends did.

Author: Avin M.