As the weather changed and his grandson and his grandson’s buddies stopped playing baseball, Gramps decided to take more interest in the latest happenings of life around him. He started taking walks. He enjoyed the weather no matter what and the houses, but soon he lost interest. He rarely saw people and when he did they didn’t seem to be friendly nor took any effort to even smile. Finally, he tried out the library. His wife had loved books, books, and more books. He had actually enjoyed the times when she read to him. Although he closed his eyes, he couldn’t fall asleep. He saw the world through his ears and the speaking of his wife. “Maybe I should visit the library and see what might interest me.”
He drove to his wife’s favorite library. He parked and then walked toward the door, but stopped and turned around. He thought only of his wife and didn’t want the tears to capture his brain. He drove further away and stopped at the next open library. He parked and wandered inside and around looking at magazines, newspapers, DVDs, and pieces of art here and there. Nothing was catching his eye. Half closing his eyes, he wandered around and then walked down an aisle and let his fingers travel across the outward projecting book bindings until he just stopped and pulled out the book. Without reading or even looking at the printing on the book, he found a an old chair close to a window. Rain drops hit the glass and slowly wandered down to the bottom of the window. He felt at ease, warm, and comfortable. He opened the book and began reading.
The book wasn’t a book, it was a play. “What in the world do I have here?” he wondered. He got up and wondered around until he found where he had picked out the book. There were no other plays anywhere near he could find. Gramps scratched his head and returned to the chair he had selected. He cozied down and began reading. It wasn’t a play, it was a musical, and not one that he had ever heard of.
The musical title was “Across the Universe.” It was the music of The Beatles. He had been one the first people around when he was a young teenager that grasped the music of change. The play was about New York in the 1960s and the protests of the Vietnam War. Through no efforts of his own, he was never selected to join the army. The musical forms the backdrop for the romance between an upper-class American girl and a poor Liverpudlian artist. Gramps had always laughed at the name Liverpudlian and sometimes in restaurants had ordered Liverpudlian for dinner . . . and laughed at the strange looks he got from waitresses . . . that was still going on. Gramps cozied down and read the entire script. He checked out the book and drove home where he read the book again.
The next morning Gramps searched around the house for his old Beatles records. It took some looking and then he found the records all in perfect condition, with the covers all worn down.
Gramps began to feel like a younger man. He was out walking more. He liked Wright Park in downtown Tacoma. It felt like home. The trees were beautiful and he enjoyed seeing the squirrels and the birds. He walked around the park and then sometimes he would go a little further. On one walk he stopped by the entrance to Tacoma Little Theatre. He went inside and asked about future productions there, but of course what he was looking for was “Across the Universe.” That wasn’t on the agenda, but the manager suggested since he was so involved in theatre, he should try for a part in the next couple of plays. Gramps shook his head and said, “No, that’s okay” but all the way home he thought about the play, the music, and his wife . . . and perhaps even being on stage.
