My Toy

If I Remember It Correctly

"Grandpa?" a small boy asked while opening the door.

"Hey bud what is it?" George replied.

"I was going through some old pictures in the attic and saw some people."

"Let me see that!" George said laughing going towards him.

George made his way over to where the tiny boy had sat. Trying to look at the image, he was holding. The boy gave George the image and was waiting in excitement to hear another one of his Grandpa's stories.

"Let me have a look." George said squinting his eyes a bit trying to focus on the people in it.

He paused for a minute glancing at the image seeing who it was. The memories came back of him. He looked down as his heart felt like it was getting heavier and harder to breathe. HE took a deep breathe, "You see, this was one of my old boyfriends." George said patting the kid on the back.

"What... I thought grandpa was your only boyfriend...?" The kid look confused grabbing the image to inspect it.

"He was just a super good friend back in the day." George smile at the intrigued boy.

"Tell me more please, pleeease." The child wined.

Well kiddo you see my friendship with him was like nothing else. I loved him and he loved me. It all started when I was not doing do well. I was feeling sad and a tiny bit hurt. Kind of like when you scraped your knee at the park.

The boy nodded agreeing.

This man you see here his name is Sapnap. He helped Grandpa feel all better. I was one hurt and crying in the bathroom and Sapnap walked in and hugged. Made me feel like I was safe. All he did was make Grandpa feel better.

"What happened to him and why have I never met him?" the boy asked.

George frowned thinking of the words to say for the story.

"If you want me to tell you the whole story, I don't want to be interrupted ok?"

"You got it!" the kid agreed.

"It started at a restaurant with your Grandpa, Sapnap, and Uncle Karl. We were sitting eating some food together by Grandpa's old house. If I remember I think it was eggs? Grandpa didn't like the way I was eating. I had my arms resting on the table. That is one of our dinner table rules! Anyways Grandpa was annoyed and took me to the washroom. He then hit me. It was only a small tap on the head. He said to be better, and I did. We only tap people on the head when they do bad stuff." George said taking a small pause to think.

"But your Grandpa overused it sometimes, overused the taps. Overused his trust and power. I got tired of him overusing the taps. He would sometimes tap my head, tummy, legs and arms. I didn't like it." G eorge looked down at the ground remembering all the bruises.

"One night when Grandpa got home I told him I didn't like it. He didn't listen to what I was saying and ignored me, it was not nice of him. I gave up trying to tell him for a bit instead I just let him use the taps. It made him happy but not me. Sapnap lived with us but during all the taps Grandpa gave me when was on vacation with Uncle Karl." He took a moment to breathe then continued.

"Sapnap came home from Uncle Karl's house, and it was awesome. I saw him and got so happy and thought he could help me to stop Grandpa from the taps. I was going to go out for drinks with friends, but Grandpa didn't want me too. He said I was not aloud. I was upset and mad. I tried to leave the house resulting with Grandpa giving me another tap. This time it was a harder tap, and I felt it more. It hurt a little bit. Grandpa got upset and left the house leaving me." George explained trying to make the story child friendly.