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This is my entry for Scott's Random Words Writing Challenge:
http://sbutki.newsvine.com/_news/2009/09/15/3274026-random-words-exercise-septoct-2009
The elderly man lying in front of me sucked on his oxygen and then pulled the mask aside as his eyes turned in my direction.
"Albert Einstein, Max. Albert Einstein." He said in a horse, but hushed voice.
He had been like this for days. I guess, as he drew near the end he was suffering from dementia. Still, I hated to see my grandfather so discombobulated, but I refused to let him be alone as the end drew near.
"Max, write it down my boy. You must write it down." He said. His face was more serious then I had ever seen it. Yet, it was tinged with a touch of obnoxious pain.
Pulling out the list I had started days before hand, I added it to the list.
"Read it back." He softly said.
"The whole list?" I asked. His eyes widened and he nodded as if his entire life depended on what was written.
"George Carlin, Barbara Walters, Eddie Murphy and Albert Einstein." I read out loud.
"What about the quotes?" He asked. He seemed almost ecstatic that I had gotten all of the names right. So, I continued reading. "Friends are like roses…you have to watch out for the pricks. Author unknown." I said.
"Excellent, my boy. That is what you tell the man in the picture." Grandpa Chester replied.
"What man in what picture?" It was same question I had asked several times over the past few days.
"Watch the video. But remember, he will reply with, 'In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make. John Lennon and Paul McCartney.'"
"What video is that, Grandpa?"
"You have all the answers in the list, Max."
"Splendid. Sometimes talking to you is like talking to an Ouija board." I thought to myself. But they were words I would never say out loud. Not to Chester.
"What about the other two quotes, Grandpa?" I asked, but my Grandfather had fallen off to sleep even with the beeping of the heart monitor next to his bed.
I walked into the next room to take a break and noticed the video cabinet that was next to the TV. I opened it in hopes of finding something I could watch while Chester slept.
There were only three videos in the huge case and I found it funny that my Grandfather would be so extravagant as to buy a cabinet that would easily hold one-hundred tapes and then only use it for three.
As I picked up the first one, the title caught my eye. "George Carlin – Scuttlebutt, What the….." I read out loud.
I grabbed the next one and read it, "Eddie Murphy – Glock."
The next one said, "Barbara Walters – Ecstatic."
I looked around the cabinet, wondering why there was no tape of Albert Einstein with some random word behind his name.
I had no idea of what they could mean or even if I was supposed to watch them all. Yet, I figured that would.
I turned on the VCR and TV and slide the tape into place. I had always wondered why Grandpa had never gotten a DVD machine or DVR and wondered if these tapes might have had something to do with it.
Soon, I saw Eddie Murphy doing a routine and I turned up the volume. I could here a strange sound in the background of the tape. As I listened it became clearer and was over powering the comedian's stage act. I realized that it was a music note and from my days in a band, I was quickly able to tell it was an E-flat.
Suddenly, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. As I turned to my left, I saw that a panel on the wall had opened.
Behind the panel was a key pad that was made up of alphabetical digits.
I grew more intrigued and it dawned on me that Chester may not have been as senile as I had first thought. Yet, there were so many unknowns about everything that still did not make sense. What about the man, what about the list and what was the key pad for?
I wondered why the title had included the word "Glock" and after some thought I went to the key pad and punched in G. L. O. C. K. Above the and to the right of the keypad was a row of three darkened lights. The middle one turned green.
I quickly removed the second tape and inserted the Barbara Walters tape. It was similar, but sounded like it was B-Flat. The first position of the three lights turned red. When I punched in the word Ecstatic it flashed to a green. The third tape was a musical note G and the word Scuttlebutt turned the red light green.
I heard a click and a second panel opened. There inside were two small boxes.
I removed the box and carried it into my Granddad's room. He was laying there awake and when he saw what I had in my hand he smiled.
"Max, you must first finish the list." He said in a serious tone. I pulled out the list and waited with pen in hand.
"Write this quote. It is by Martin Luther King. 'I submit to you that if a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.' When he says this you must respond with this quote by Albert Einstein. 'Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person.' You have that?"
"Yes sir."
"Now open the cherry red wood box first."
I slowly pulled the lid up and saw an odd three dimensional picture. I reached in and my finger went into the photo. I jerked back as if I had been bite. It had tingled at first and then felt as if it were pulling on my whole arm.
I looked inside and the picture looked liked a white haired man in a white coat.
I started to ask him what was going on when I heard a noise behind me. Turning, I saw a man in a long white coat. His hair was even whiter. I dropped the boxes and they clattered to the ground.
"Who…"
"The quote Max, say the quote!" Grandpa yelled.
I looked at my old grandfather and then back at the man. I mumbled the quote and the man responded with the other. Then he gave me the last quote my grandfather had given me and I responded with what my grandpa had told me to.
He reached out his hand as if to handshake and I reciprocated. As he shook my hand he held out a device that looked like a remote control. I took it and then he handed me a VCR tape with the title "Albert Einstein – Dimensions."
"Play the tape. When you hear the musical note D, come back and press the Aux button, then the input button, and then the number 777." The white haired stranger said.
I did as he asked. When I hit the button there was a bright light and a doorway appeared. The man in white helped grandpa out of the bed and helped him through. As he stood there he said, "Your grandfather has many years left. Come and join us in my dimension."
