"The Grandfather" told by JLt... One time there was a little girl whose grandfather had just died She has loved her grandfather very much and she missed him a great deal He was buried in the cemetery just a few hundred yards from her house and she could see his grave every evening at sunset when she looked from her bedroom window One night her parents were going out and the babysitter hadn't arrived yet They knew she was a very reliable babysitter who would probably arrive just a few minutes later, so they kissed the girl good-bye and drive off. Hours passed and the babysitter had not yet come. The girl began to be afraid A storm was brewing outside and thunder and lightning moved closer and closer to the house. Suddenly there was a bright flash of lightning without any sound and the power in the house went off. The wind blew the trees around and branches broke off, crashing against the house and falling to the yard Alone in the dark, the girl became very scared Then the phone rang The girl went to the phone, hoping it was her parents She said hello, and waited. The line seemed dead Then, sounding far, far away, a voice came over the phone It was her grandfather's voice "Don't be afraid, honey. There's nothing to fear. You'll be safe in the house. The storm will pass over." Then the phone was silent and dead The girl went to bed, calm and happy. She slept well in spite of the storm The parents came home and found their daughter asleep, and, unwilling to wake her, they left their questions until the morning. They were horrified when the babysitter called the next morning to explain that she had been in a wreck at the leading edge of the storm. She was unhurt, but what had their daughter done alone in the house? When they woke her, she told them what had happened And when they didn't believe her, she smiled and pointed out her window to what she had seen the night before The phone line from the house was intact out to the first pole but then it was broken by fallen limbs, and the cable drooped into the cemetery The end of the broken line lay across her grandfather's grave *the end*