Tears of Tomorrow

On a warm summer's evening, our power went out here in our little house out in the countryside. Since mom and dad were out in the city for the weekend, grandpa was watching us, but he just sat on the porch, watching the fields of grass. My brother Luke and I had nothing to do so we decided to play a game of hide and seek in our dark house. Luke and I drew straws to decide who was counting first. He lost so we went down to the basement and chose that as the counting spot. I closed the door and left him in the basement. I ran trying to find a really good spot to hide. As I ran through the hall, my eye fixed on the string to pull down the ladder to the attic. Luke never liked the attic, so he would never go up there. I pulled it and ascended the ladder.

I pulled the ladder back up and waited there. I turned around and the beam of my flashlight made the dark attic seem eerie. To pass the time, I started to look around the attic. Our parents never let us up here because of the rusty nails in the wood, but I made sure to keep a keen eye out for that. As I went through different boxes, looking at old albums, finding old toys and clothes, I sat on this one old trunk. I don't know how long it had been since I was up here in the attic, but I didn't care. I started to forget that I was even playing hide and seek. I went to stand up and place the album I had back into it's box, but my sock got caught on something. I pointed my flashlight down to my foot and unhooked my sock from a rusty lock on the trunk.

I placed the album on the ground and as I bent down to look closer at this trunk, the ladder was pulled down and I heard my grandpa climbing up. Pulled the tarp from off this trunk and as I was starting to open it up, my grandpa made it up and saw me. He yelled "No, don't..." It was too late, I opened this trunk and saw that it contained a uniform and some artifacts from WWII. My grandpa sighed and came to close the trunk. As his eyes fixed on the contents of the trunk he gave a slight chuckle. I asked him "What's so funny grandpa?" I looked at him and I could slightly see his face, and noticed that though he was smiling, he started tearing up. The power came back on and he pulled the string for the light in the attic.

He closed the trunk and said "Help me bring this down to the living room." As we descended the stairs, Luke saw us and helped grandpa and I carry this trunk to the living room. We placed it in front of the couch and grandpa sat right in front of it. Luke and I sat on either side of him as he opened it again. He started to tell us about his time in the Army during the war and told us different stories as he picked up each item and how he got it. He picked up this little tin and inside was a picture of him and some other guys. He told us that it was him and his friends when they were in Austria. He told us about his mission there and how it was the last time he saw his friends.

He picked up his uniform and smelt the material, burying his face in the chest of the blouse. I saw his rank on his sleeve and these different patches across his blouse. Luke saw a knife in the trunk and picked it up. Grandpa saw him and said "That was my fighting knife when I was stationed in the Pacific." Grandpa told us the time he was stationed on Guam after the Marines took the island back from Japanese occupation. He placed down the knife and picked up a small gun out of the trunk. As he lifted it out of the trunk, his hands started to shake and tears began to well in his eyes. His breath got shaky and he said "This was the pistol of a German soldier that I killed in a battle. I hope you kids will never have to experience the horrors of war or have to take the life of someone else. It is a very scary thing to do and something that will never leave your mind.

Every day I think about that young man and his cold face when I went up to him and collected his gun." Both Luke and I hugged grandpa and he put the gun down and hugged us back. As grandpa wiped his tears, mom and dad walked in and saw us on the couch with grandpa and his trunk. We got up and hugged our parents and we started talking about how grandpa was a hero in the war and how he was a cool soldier who saw the world. Mom and dad joined us on the couch and grandpa asked them why they were back so early. Dad said that the convention they were going to got cancelled. Grandpa continued telling us stories of the places he had been while in the Army.

As mom made a quick dinner for us, we sat around the dinner table and grandpa would sing us the songs he sang in boot camp and while they were walking through the forests of Austria. Grandpa showed us more pictures from his trunk and he talked about his friends and how close they were before they were lost in battle. From that day forward, every time grandpa would watch us Luke and I would always render him a salute when he walked in the door and before we went to bed. When grandpa died 2 years ago, Luke and I brought his trunk to the funeral and put him in his uniform so that he would be buried in it. We put his pictures on display at the memorial. In his honor both my brother and I joined the army so that his legacy of keeping this country free continued on in us.