A Noun

Chapter seven: Promise

Prom•ise
Noun
1. A declaration of assurance that one will do a particular thing or that the particular thing will happen.

Grandpa had his arm looped with mine as we walked closer to the sight he wanted me to see. But, the sight we were going towards for our adventure was quite peculiar.

It was a storage lot.

When I went to ask him what we were doing there, he shook his head, telling me to just wait.

We walked through the storage lockers and he stopped us at a large one at the very end of a row.

He handed me the key and nodded to it, telling me to unlock the locks, keeping the outside world away from whatever was held inside.

I pushed the key inside the lock and looked to him.

"Could I guess what's inside?" I asked with a cheeky smile.

He chuckled and shrugged. "You won't guess it in a million years, darling."

"Tobacco plant? Fuzzy slippers?" I asked with a cheeky smile.

He chuckled and just waved at me to open the locker. I unlocked the lock and kept in my hand, to not lose it and pushed the metal roll up garage door-like door.

The lock fell out of my hand as Grandpa chuckled. My eyes grew wide while the poor lock clattered to the ground, making a metallic noise against the hot pavement.

No words came, but instead I stared at the beautiful 4x4, two door classic powder blue Ford Bronco. It was so gorgeous. It sat there, covered in dust and needing a good wash.

But it looked as if it had so many adventures.

The entire storage unit was covered in my grandfathers work. Papers, artifacts, and memorabilia.

He absolutely adored how my hand grazed the paint of the car as I walked past it, looking inside the windows and then at all of the wonderful things he had collected as an anthropologist in his time.

He stood there, smiling at me. He was so pleased that I loved everything inside there.

"Why did you put this in storage?" I asked him as we stood at the Bronco.

He sighed and smiled at it while the memories washed over him. "I can't drive it any longer, but I felt that it deserves you to drive it for our adventure today."

Our first trip was to the car wash.

He sat inside the car while I washed it down since it was a self serve washing station.

I lathered his window with soap and suds. I saw him chuckle when I made a smiley face on it.

The wash did the old beauty well. It shined like the top of the Chrysler building as we pulled onto the street, and Pops gave me directions to our first adventure of the day.

It was a dress shop. I didn't understand why we had to come here, but he made me get out of the car.

"Now," He started as we began to walk into the shop. "I want you to find a gorgeous dress that you feel beautiful in, Ann. Nothing less."

I went to ask him why, and he replied without me having to ask.

"It's a surprise."

We browsed the racks of nice dresses as I asked what kind of dress I would need. "A nice dress. One you could wear often, but to more formal settings too."

"Ah, yes. Complicated." I told myself.

We browsed as he said he wouldn't choose a dress for me, or give options.