"What is it, grandpa? Why do you look so tensed?"
"It's nothing Sarah. You should go to bed. It's getting late and you know what your daddy told you about staying up at this hour of the night."
Little Sarah looked at her grandpa's face and knew there was something he wanted to talk to her about but was holding himself back.
"But grandpa--"
"No buts. We'll discuss it in the morning. Let's put you in bed."
William promised Sarah to talk to her about his strange and sudden reaction after seeing the old rusty watch she found in the basement.
12:01 on the clock. Sarah can't sleep. She decides to go see if her grandpa is asleep. But what is this? Why is the old man crying?
Sarah rushes to William and speaks in a soft comforting voice
"Oh my god grandpa what happened? Why are you crying?"
William tries to gather his words
"Sarah? Honey I think I told you to go to sleep. What are you doing here?"
"I couldn't sleep. What's happening grandpa? You need to tell me right now. I can't see you like this anymore."
"Th.. that watch. It's the last thing your grandma gave to me before she... I tried to find it for so long but never could. When you found it earlier today, it reminded me of her and I..."
Martha died 17 years ago in a car accident. The watch was supposed to be an anniversary gift for William.
"I don't get it grandpa. Why is the watch so important to you?"
"Sarah, back in my time we didn't have all this high tech stuff you kids brag about today. Our lives were simple. Our relationships didn't start through an app, and we couldn't talk to each other all day long without giving a damn about the world."
"....."
"...and that's why when we received gifts from people we love, we used to hold on to it. You kids have your own way of doing thing, and we had ours."
"What was she like?"
"Hmm?"
"Grandma. What was she like?"
"Oh she was everything a man could ever ask for. Subtle, brave, smart, but what made me fall in love with her the most was that fire inside of her. She always wanted to do something for this little planet of ours. She volunteered in thousands of welfare programmes and I joined her in a few. At first I didn't understand this obsession of her but then one day she told me, "Darling if I save the world, I'll save everybody I love." and that was enough for me to know that she was the one."
"She sounds like a fun person to be around."
"Believe me she was. I would give anything to have her back."
"But how did you guys pass your time? Didn't it get boring? You guys didn't even have Netflix back then."
"We had each other, kiddo. We were our own entertainment. We were happy with little. You kids have all the tech in the world to keep you occupied, but in those days, technology was a luxury. We didn't even have those fancy ear-thingy to listen to music."
"Earphones, grandpa. They're called earphones."
"Yeah that. We only had a record player in the house and my brother and I used to fight to play our own music."
Sarah didn't know what to say. All of what her grandpa said made it sound like it was a lot better back then.
"I wish I could experience that time."
"It wouldn't interest you, honestly. What's best for you right now is to enjoy your own time and then share it with your grandchildren when you get old like me. We don't get to choose our time Sarah, but we do get to choose what we do in that time. It's up to you if you want to make it worth it or not."
"I will, grandpa. You'll see."
William looks at Sarah with a proud smile.
"C'mon on now. It's really late. You'll get dark circles under your eyes if you stay up all night."
"Can you tell me a bedtime story?"
"Only if you promise to not wake up this time."
"Promise."
"Okay then."
William puts Sarah to bed and kisses her on her forehead. Just as he's about to leave the room, Sarah grabs his hand.
"She's watching you, you know."
"I know sweetheart, I know."
"Goodnight grandpa."
"Goodnight princess."
This is my entry for the Twenty Four Hour Short Story writing contest organised by @mctiller.