Christine smoothed out the faded piece of newspaper and smiled. It was just like her dad to keep this scrap of paper. It fit right in with all the other stuff he'd accumulated over the years….bakelite phones, vinyl records, odd airplane parts….all sorts of things he held as valuable. She couldn't say anything or he'd launch into the story about that hoarder who fell through the apartment floor.
Looking closely, she realized why he'd kept it in his nightstand all these years. It was a picture of him with her mother. Both of them looked so young and happy. The headline read "Unlikely Partnership: Science and Crime Fighting." It was dated about two years before Christine had been born. The look on her dad's face showed how much he loved her mother.
"Mom, what's that?" Christine's son came in to see what she was doing.
"It's a picture of Pops and Grammy."
"Their clothes and hair look funny", said the boy.
"That was the style 45 years ago. Grammy was very pretty and Pops was very handsome."
"Is Pops gonna stay with us?"
"I don't think so. He misses Grammy very much. I think he's going to go live at the retirement center with her."
"Will she remember him? It makes Pops sad because she forgets lots of things."
"Your grandfather told me he can remember enough for both of them. You've heard him tell his stories. They did a lot of interesting things together, didn't they?"
"Yeah….Pops says between the two of them they did enough things to keep five normal people busy. Will we get to go visit them at the retirement center?"
Christine hugged her son. "Of course, Seeley. Pops made me promise. We'll go at least twice a week, okay?"
Seeley grinned a Boothy grin. "Okay!"