Thoughts in the Rain:

As we browsed the music store together, I got lost in my thoughts about your grandfather. He certainly had an annoying charm to him. Ooo, I want to smack him at times. But yet, I couldn’t bring myself to do so. He messed up my head then he still messes up my head now.

But yet, he was a good guy at heart. It showed with his family, especially his younger sister. He certainly treated me like a princess. At the same time, he brought me down to earth. You see, Frida, I grew up spoiled. Mommy and daddy always gave me everything I wanted. There was discipline, but they didn’t have to use it on me. I grew up a fairly good child. So good that I had no real idea about how the world worked. Your grandfather took it upon himself to show me how things were.

“Would your sister like Madonna?” I asked. Jim gave me a funny look.

“Who?” he asked.

“Madonna,” I repeated. “She’s a singer. She sang ‘Lucky Star’, ‘Borderline’, those songs.” A pause came between us. Jim then tried to hold back a laugh. I raised an eyebrow at him.

“What?” I asked. Your grandfather shook his head,

“Nothing, nothing,” he lied. I looked at him still.

“What’s wrong with Madonna?” I asked. Jim gave me a little shrug.

“Nothing, if that’s what you like,” he offered. I frowned at him. Your grandfather loved to wind me up time and again. I didn’t understand why he gave me such a hard time back then. Guess you could say it was love. I call it insanity. That’s the only word to describe good old Jim. Insane was that goofy grin that makes me want to smack him at times. But, that’s just how he was. Maybe, that’s why I loved him so much. I might have been going a bit crazy myself then. Who could say?

I folded my arms across my chest. “Fine then, what kind of gift do you think she would like?”

He smiled at me. “Gladly.” Your grandfather began his search around the section. Oh, he pissed me off at that moment. Jim seemed bent on making me look dumb. I know that wasn’t the intent, but it sure felt like it.

“Something…” he said as he drew out a cassette tape and held it out on display. “Like this!”

I gave his selection a puzzled look.

“Tina Turner?” I asked. Jim still grinned at me.

“Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of Tina Turner!” he boomed. I shook my head back and forth with a blank stare. Jim laughed at me.

“You’re joking, right?” he asked. I shook my head again.

“You poor, poor child,” he said. “We’ll have to work on you.” I stood there, red-faced. Moments like that made me want to throttle your grandfather. So why did I stay with that guy? Like I said, it was insanity. He was crazy from the beginning and it started to pass on to me.

I threw up my hands. “Fine, fine. We’ll get Tina Turner.”

Jim gave me that goofy grin that annoys me so much. “Good choice.”

We made it to the counter and made the purchase. Your grandfather insisted that he paid for it himself.

“It’s not your gift to pay for,” he said. “Save your money for something.” I didn’t argue as I reluctantly put my cash back into my wallet. He never wanted me to pay for anything. He used his money to cover everything we did.

I still don’t understand why to this very day. It seems weird to me.

1984