Wednesday, November 11, 2009

The Skydiving Grannie and her dog Chuck

Grannie McGill always loved adventure. All her life. Even when she was a young girl, no one: not boy, not man, nor beast could out do my Grannie McGill. If Billy Barkley could climb the old hickory tree, Grannie could climb higher. If Susie Detritis could build a sandcastle, Grannie could build a palatial estate equipped with sand servants and sand stable. My Grannie McGill is the most incredible, and most invincible person I've ever known. So, I took it real hard when Grannie got sick back during that skorcher of a summer when I was eight and she was eight-eight.

Mother called it the "sickness." Grannie just called it like it was ... she had cancer; now stop fussing. At eight years old, I didn't know much about cancer, except that a bunch of my friends' grandparents died from it. But they didn't have a grandparent like Grannie McGill. Grannie decided to prove to all of us, and probably to herself too, that no cancer was going to put a damper on her life. She had a lot of life left in her, even at eighty-eight, and she wasn't going to squander it feeling sorry for herself.

Grannie gathered all of us together and told us we were to meet her at Abercrombie's field at 1:00 pm and told us to bring the reporters. It was all very mysterious.

At 1:00 pm, there we all stood. Just about the whole town of Odon was there in the field. We stood there looking at each other wondering what she was up to now, when we heard the rumble of an airplane above and then saw two black specks in the sky. What in tarnation was going on ...

Well, you get the point. The headlines the next day read "The Skydiving Grannie and her dog Chuck."

NOTE: I never had a Grannie McGill. I just thought she would be a cool character, and made her up.

6 comments:

Dear Fireflies said...

Oh wow, it would be so cool to have a granny like her! I'll bet every holiday would be totally crazy :D

Anonymous said...

Hello! I only found your blog today and I love it, so I would be really happy if I could join. My e-mail is sara.koncilja@gmail.com, you can find examples of my work on my blog http://theinvisiblechild.wordpress.com or my flickr illustration set http://www.flickr.com/photos/theinvisiblechild/sets/72157622354391556/

Thank you!

Sara

Dayle's Painted Diary-Dayle Dodwell said...

Wonderful story. I love your Granny character. I like strong fun female role models there are just not enough of them.

illustration poetry said...

Grannie McGill rocks! :D

Vanessa Brantley Newton said...

now this is what I'm taking about!!!! How off the chain wonderful is this????? This is just so cool and works for a great story. My dear you have nailed this and the story is fantastic and should be flushed out Michelle! It's just begging to be a terrific picture book to help kids and parents that have to deal with nasty cancer! I likey a lot! This is going to be so HOT! I can feel it! he he he!

sruble said...

Grannie is fun and full of life! Thanks for sharing her story!