Even with his ancient eye-sight, he could see the three boys, his grandson’s, as they crossed the flat below his hillside perch. The youngest, as was usual, was trailing behind the other two.
Behind the old man was a sheep flock, guarded by two large dogs. He scanned them, then set about preparing the three meals for the boys.
“Got a big-ears, Grandser,” the eldest said as he dropped the jackrabbit on the ground.
“Looks good,” Grandser, their name for their Grandfather, answered.
“I only got a stupid groundhog,” the middle grandchild complained, “He’s so noisy.”
He was speaking of the youngest grandboy, seven or 8. The two boys sat down and began eating before their brother made it into camp.
“See what I found?” the youngest said, holding up a faded and nearly rotted piece of paper.
Grandser held his hand out. It was an old advertisement insert from a newspaper. He examined it and knew it must go into his treasury, a cave where he kept things of the past.
“So what is it?” the boy asked.
“It’s ads for food from a grocery store,” he answered.
“A grocery store?” the child questioned.
The older of the two boys made a disapproving sound with his teeth before saying, “Now you done it. He’s gonna be talking about weird old things all day long. Great!”
Grandser smiled at the eldest boy as he looked at the prize his youngest had brought him. Finally, he found what he was looking for, below ‘$4.99 a pound for New York Steak,’ the date, January 29, 2021.
“Eat up, boy!” he said to the youngster standing before him.