GRANDAD'S GIFT By Amanda J Rees.               

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Charlie was an accident-prone child if anyone was going to hurt themselves it was he. During the school holiday Charlie was playing with his friends in the park when he fell off a climbing frame. Charlie's friends ran to get his mother who lived just up the road. She ran to him and scooped him off the ground. "What hurts Charlie?" His mother asked quickly checking him over. "It's my ankle" he replied and then he started to cry, his mother cuddled him and carried him home, she put him in the car and drove him to the Hospital. An x-ray showed he had chipped a small bone in his foot, the Nurse told Charlie they needed to put a plaster on his leg up to his knee to keep the foot still, so that the bone would heal. Charlie was quite happy about having a plaster, as he could show his Grandad the next day when he visited him.

As Charlie's family pulled up outside his Grandads house, the door opened and stood with his hands on his hips was Charlie's Grandad. "You are a right Charlie!" he said shaking his head and smiling. He helped Charlie into the house. Charlie spent the whole visit sat on his Grandads lap, telling him all about the accident and the Hospital. Just before Charlie's family left, his Grandad gave Charlie a very special walking stick. It was just beautiful, with a silver handle and a brass base. The wood was smooth and shinny. "You can keep it Charlie" his Grandad said, "but you must look after it, as it is very special!" Charlie hugged his Grandad and gave him a big kiss. Charlie loved visiting his grandad especially during late spring, as in his garden were flowering cherry trees. Their big pink flowers filled the sky and the cottage looked like something out of a fairy tale.

Charlie's leg started to mend and it wasn't long before the plaster came off and at last he could use the walking stick, Charlie felt so proud. One morning the telephone rang and Charlie's mother began to cry, Charlie was in the garden, as he hobbled in to his mother, the walking stick stuck in the ground, Charlie kept on walking, leaving it sticking up. The telephone call was from a neighbour of Charlie's Grandad saying that he had died. Charlie sobbed uncontrollably. After the funeral, Charlie's mother asked him about the walking stick, Charlie told her that it had been left in the garden. Charlie opened the back door and shouted to his mother. In the garden where the walking stick had been, was a flowering cherry tree, it's branches reached to the sky and the pink blossoms were waving in the wind. Charlie's mother put her arm around Charlie and said, " now he will always be with us!"

 

all illustrations by Max Buckland