Superman Stole My Panties

Hit And Run

“Avery, don’t you have work tonight?” My grandmother asked me a few days later. I sat at the kitchen table eating a bowl of dry cereal for dinner. She seemed surprised to see me home during this hour. On a normal day, I would be roughly half way through my shift at the fast food joint. I had to give her credit, it wasn’t normal for me to be home.

                I shook my head, swallowing what was in my mouth, “My manager called and said that my schedule got messed up. I’m off today.”

                She frowned, pausing for a moment, “Huh… Well it’s nice to see you home at a normal time for once.”

                I smiled, nodding my head in agreement.

                “Shall we go out for dinner?”

                “Uh…” I looked down at the half eaten bowl of cereal before me. Her eyesight must have been getting worse and worse. “Sure, why not?”

                She smiled gently, “Let me go get changed into something nicer than this slop. We’ll leave whenever you’re ready then.”

                “Alright, Grandma.”

                I watched as she left the room slowly. Once she was a safe distance away, I stood up, dumping the rest of my food into the trash can. I washed the bowl and stuck it on the dish rack before heading up to my room to change into a different shirt.

                Forty minutes later, I was driving our car out of the driveway and towards Red Robin. My grandmother had long ago stopped driving. She was still allowed to, but she feared that her vision or her slow reactions would finally catch up to her one of these days.

                I was content with driving her around.

                She was my grandmother and I loved her.

                I kept the radio off. She had never been a fan of the music that played on there that I enjoyed, and vice versa.

                Instead, we settled into an easy conversation.

                Despite living in the same house, I always felt like I never talked to her enough. She only had a limited amount of time left with, and I wanted to make the best of it that I could. Unfortunately, school and work seemed to keep getting in the way.

                We got to the restaurant just in time. They took us right away, but I noticed how a large mob of people arrived a mere five minutes after us.

                I commented on that once we were settled into our seats.

                “Your mother used to say she brought the crowds with her.” She chuckled solemnly as her eyes scanned over the menu.

                I knew exactly what she would order, but we went through the same routine every time we went out to eat.

                I smiled gently, “Did she really?”

                My grandmother nodded, “Your mother was such a funny lady. She had this ridiculous dream that one day she would become famous and actually mean it when she said that she brought the crowds.”

                “I remember she was such an eccentric person.”

                “You barely covered the tip of the iceberg with your memory.” She chuckled, “I remember one of the first Christmases that you were alive for, she dressed your father up as a Santa Claus and together they acted out you seeing Santa deliver the presents.”