THE BEST OF THE WORST OF TIMES Chapter 5

 

Grandpa's Solution !!

After mulling over how to see his daughter and grandkids he finally figured out what to do.

He sent word he was coming to get them - so pack up and be ready to leave.

A few days later he drove up in a pickup truck with a camper shell on it. He told them to just take their clothes, and leave the rest for he was going to set them in a house in California and would supply the furniture and everything else they needed. They didn't take too long to load up, and they were off.

Grandpa, daughter and George were in the front seat and seven kids in the back with the clothes.

They drove straight through and arrived in four days. When they reached the house he had prepared for them, it wasn't much better than the one they left with the exception it had electricity, water and an inside toilet.

He gathered up a few more necessities and they were moved in.  

 

Free Clip Art

After being penned up in the back of that truck for four days the kids were wild when let loose. These kids being raised in the country secluded from much interaction with other kids for the most part were not what the grandmother expected.

They were not the sweet cuddly kind and after the first meeting, Grandma wanted no more contact with them.

One of George's relatives came and filled their pantry and ice box with staples and two bags of fruit, and as they were leaving the kids were out in the yard throwing the apples and oranges at each other.

The bags of fruit were expensive to the relatives, but the kids just dumped it out and wasted it. The relatives who brought it over were short on money themselves and had to sacrifice to pay for the boxes of food given and, needless to say it was the last time they did that.

 

George had almost no money, and had to get a job but he had farmed most of his life and the only job he could get was at an auto dismantling yard where he was always having to lift unwieldy heavy objects. It was hard work but something he could do.

The grandfather made this statement to George while on the way to California “with all these kids if you are smart you can become a rich man."

He was thinking back on how he put his kids to work and took all their money. While one might disagree with his tactics the one good thing he did was to help his boys to get established with homes after they were married.

He felt the parents of his girl’s husbands should do likewise and he wasn't as generous with them.

As time went by more kids were born and finally they totaled thirteen.

George could no longer take care of them so the county supplemented his income. It was akin to Bedlam in the home with all the noise generated by the fussing and fighting among the kids.  

 

George finally took to drinking as an escape mechanism, but drink and the hard work finally took him down.

He went to the county hospital and his strength slowly ebbed away. Several of his relatives were Christians, and they had discussed becoming a Christian with him but under the circumstances he was in it didn't seem possible.

There was a black Christian man who worked in the hospital that ministered to him and after a lifetime of living in darkness the light of the gospel flooded his soul, and for the first time in his life he had real joy in his soul.  

He soon passed away peacefully to his reward.

 

To be Continued