Short Story
Even though my Grandpa Doc is no longer with me today, his signature anecdote will remain forever. As we would sit on his front porch, swaying back-and-forth in his gazebo, the ageless story would reinvent itself time after time. They arrived in his driveway on a hot summer afternoon in 1962. The knocks coming from the front door startled the forlorn young widower. A novice inventor at the time, he put away his current contraption and answered the door. He was bewildered to see that the guests, instead of friends or family members, were of Japanese descent. "Different looking?...yes, conspicuous...no." He would always say. The discreet people muttered in their best English to my grandfather, "Would you like to have your driveway black-topped for money?" My grandfather unswervingly gave his consent. Grandpa Doc has always been commended for his intellectual and imaginative inventions, but that mechanical answer branded him as stupid to future generations. "When may we start sir?" They asked my grandfather in guiltless voices. "Well, I suppose now would be as good as time as any." He replied. As my grandfather walked back to his apparatus, he saw the foreigners running to and fro to their Toyota pick-up truck. Gran
He jammed his book in his chest of drawers and got up once more to answer the unattended door. The woman then gesticulated, pointing to her stomach. And then, grandpa would slowly reveal, with contentment, that he had discovered the men's illegitimate work. It goes without saying, that "pregnant" Japanese woman outsmarted my Grandpa Doc for more that any blacktop job was worth. I unwilling complied and listened to my mother apprehensively dial up the unspecified caller. "They've been sold! One of your inventions is in Consumer Reports!" I swear I could hear my grandfather yelling back on the other side of the receiver, "What!" "Yes, I'm not lying, they've been taken from you and sold!" hollered back my mother. "Instead of actually black topping my driveway, they painted it black!" I can still remember hearing my grandfather say. I could go on and tell you all the details, like how grandpa decided not to sue, but I think it is better left unsaid. Grandpa had felt so clever, outwitting those connivers, but he had been in for a bigger surprise the next day when he discovered the detailed manuscript of all of his inventions was gone. "I would like to inspect the work that you have done," grandfather had requested. About twenty-five years later my mother was reading Consumer Reports. After accommodating the expecting mother, grandpa went downstairs to his workshop to gather some needed tools. dpa Doc had been taking some notes on his gadget when he heard another, softer knocks coming from the exterior. He had my whole family searching that musty house of his in 1962, but he knew it was useless.
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Acceptance Essays
