Where Has All the Time Gone?
It is an unusually chilly and windy morning in East Texas due to the cold front that passed in the night before. Young Oliver is grudgingly putting on his boots and his lined coat. Before making the effort to put on the second boot, Oliver makes one final plea with his father to stay home instead of visiting Grandpa Kent, but his father insists on the family making this outing because Grandpa Kent had been down and lonely ever since moving into the nursing home, after becoming unable to care for himself.
Grandpa Kent was quite old when Oliver, now thirteen years old himself, was born. Because of his age and fragility, especially following his hospitalization a few years ago, Grandpa Kent has been unable to perform typical grandfather-grandson activities for most of Oliver's memorable life. Oliver knew he ought to care more than he did, and that thought made him uncomfortable. So he tried not to think much about his grandfather at all.
In spite of Oliver's protests, the family arrived at the nursing home. Oliver opens the door to the car and immediately feels the dreaded wind chill. He looks around the parking lot, which is about a tenth full with vehicles at this time and the line markers are in need of a repaint. They walked together to the front entrance and entered the facility. The lobby area looks unexciting and dreary, with dull lighting, low ceilings, worn white tiled floors, and an unpleasant smell. The room has a nursing station and two televisions. One of the televisions is playing a rerun of Dr. Phil, which has been long discontinued, and the other is playing local news. Several residents are hovering near the televisions.
Oliver and his parents then walked down a hallway and reached Grandpa Kent's room. The door is half open when they get there, and they then enter and greet him. It takes him a moment to register who has entered, but once he does, he is illuminated with joy to see them all. His room is about the size of a hospital room, maybe a tad smaller. There is a window with open blinds and a view to the front courtyard area and entrance. The bed is backed into the right corner of the room and a small television is a few feet beyond the base of the bed on top of a dresser. Various memorabilia belonging to Grandpa Kent sit on the dresser and adjacent table, including family pictures, small cutesy crayon drawings by his grandchildren and great grandchildren, an old leather-bound Bible with gilded edges, and a couple birthday cards from his recent ninety-sixth birthday party.
Oliver goes over to the bed, where his grandfather is confined nearly all day, and hugs him. His parents then began to converse with Grandpa Kent. Oliver occasionally butted in or answered a question asked by his grandfather, but within a few minutes he was sitting in a chair across from the bed and half-scrolling on his smart phone and half-listening to the conversation. It is about noon and Grandpa Kent asks Oliver's parents to go to a nearby restaurant and buy a meal for him. The nursing home cafeteria food is fine, but an outside meal is always cherished. They understand, and as they are preparing to leave, Grandpa Kent requests Oliver to stay behind with him. At first, Oliver is reluctant to stay since he worries it could be awkward, but he is in no position to do otherwise and he knows his grandfather must want to visit with him. So once his parents exit, Oliver takes his chair and pushes it closer to the bed so Grandpa Kent will be able to hear what he is saying more clearly.
When he sits down, he notices that Grandpa Kent has his head turned and is looking out the window. Rain is beginning to fall and the drops are tapping against the windowpane. Grandpa Kent then turns his head towards Oliver, and a tear runs down his wrinkled cheek. Oliver's face immediately expresses concern, and right before he asks his grandfather if he needs a nurse, Grandpa Kent grabs Oliver's hand and tells him everything is okay. "I just want to tell you a story," Grandpa Kent says with a shaky yet assured voice. "Many years ago I was visiting my own mother at a nursing home just like you are visiting me. She was very old just like I am now." He continued, "Once when I was preparing her breakfast, I noticed she was staring out her window." Grandpa Kent paused for a moment, and then said with a quiver, "she looked back at me and she said 'Kent, where has all the time gone?'" He could no longer restrain his tears, and Oliver, bewildered by the situation, helped get him a tissue. Oliver notices his grandfather is smiling but his hand is still shaking, and he is staring off to the side. Oliver looks in the direction of his stare and sees a clock on the wall ticking away slowly but surely. He then holds his grandfather's hand to comfort him. "I didn't understand what she meant then. Now I do," Grandpa Kent said finally. Soon after, Oliver's parents return, Grandpa Kent enjoys his lunch, and they begin to part ways. Before they leave, Grandpa Kent decides to give the old Bible sitting on the table to Oliver as a gift. Oliver thanks him and hugs him before walking out.
During the drive home, the rain storm worsens and the sound of the rain pouring combined with the windshield wipers makes it hard to even talk in the car, but this does not stop Oliver from thinking about the wisdom his grandfather relayed to him. He wonders how such an old man could say life had been so short. His reflections made him feel guilty for initially not wanting to visit the nursing home and for all the times he chose trivial things over visiting his grandfather in the past. When they arrived home, Oliver took the Bible his grandfather had gifted him and gently placed it onto his nightstand. Then he noticed a small piece of white notebook paper barely poking out of the bottom portion of the book, only seeing it due to the contrast of the white with the golden edges. He opens to the marked page, which was the end of Ecclesiastes. His eyes immediately focus on one bit of text that had been underlined with a pencil, and he reads:
Fear God, and keep His commandments:
For this is the whole duty of man.
For God shall bring every work into judgment,
with every secret thing, whether it be good, or
whether it be evil.
Then Oliver realized that everything was quiet. The storm had passed. He walked outside the house and saw the weather was calm, the sun was beginning to peek out from the clouds, and the breeze was warm. He looked behind him at his front door and saw his father sagging against the doorframe, with tears running down his face and a phone held to his ear.
Before his father could speak, Oliver understood.