She Has Nostalgia

John is sitting on the porch bench with his grandpa, they are both filled with tears because of the sudden death of Carl's wife, John's grandma. Carl looks over at John and says; You have not said much during the funeral, you know you can talk to me about anything.

I know grandpa, I'm filled with all kinds of emotions, mostly sadness, just sitting here with you is comforting.

Thank you son, you have always been my favorite. Before you go, your grandma and I have something for all the grandkids, here is yours, Carl hands John a envelope. John opens the envelope and inside is a cashier's check for $20,000. John can't believe it, hugs his grandpa and thanks him over and over. I don't have anything to remember grandma by besides some pictures, I have no keepsakes, is there anything I can have?

Carl says, I put most of her things up in the attic, you are more than welcome to go up there and look around. I'm going to go inside and say hello to all who came to honor your grandmother and give the rest of the grandkids their gifts.

Ok!

John goes up to the attic and is looking around in some of the boxes, there's a bunch more pictures he grabs a couple, going through another box he finds some memorabilia. At the bottom of the box are some folders, and what looks like a diary. It's not a diary it's a little black notebook, he opens it up expecting to read some history about his grandma and grandpa, but instead it's just a bunch of blank pages. He flips pages hoping to find some thing but there is no writing, then on one of the pages he notices there are DOTS, but at closer look he realizes it's Braille. He puts the little black notebook in his jacket pocket and goes down to find his grandpa. He finds Carl and asks if he can speak with him for a couple of minutes? They walk over to a corner of the house, John proceeds to tell him about his findings in the attic and shows him the little black notebook. As you can see there is no writing but on certain pages there is Braille, could grandma read Braille?

Not that I knew of.

What do you make of this grandpa?

I don't know.

She was into escape rooms and jigsaw puzzles.

Can I take it to someone who can tell us what it says?

Sure, let me know what you find out?

I sure will, love you grandpa and I will talk to you soon .

Love you too .

So John has an appointment with a professor at a local college in order to find out what the Braille means.

Hello professor Anderson, my name is John we spoke over the phone.

Yes, nice to meet you. So let's see this book you were talking about.

John hands him the little black notebook and the professor starts to go over the Braille with his fingertips, after about 5 minutes of silence John asks him what it says?

It's coordinates, some sort of map, destination to a place where you can or will find something.

No way! John blurts out .

Yeah way! The professor replies .

Would you please write it all down for me? I can't wait to go tell my grandpa all about this. The professor writes everything down that he has read and hands him back the little black notebook with the piece of paper with everything on it.

John race is over to his grandpas house and bursts in the door, his grandpa is scared out of his seat by the intrusion, and screams at John "What the hell do you think you're doing?" John is talking 100 miles an hour.

Calm down, calm down Carl says, I can't understand a word your saying, start from the beginning.

Ok.

So I set up an appointment with a professor from the college here, he knows how to read Braille. I take him grandmas little black notebook and this is what he comes up with, it's a treasure map, well a map for the most part. What do you make of this grandpa?

Well I don't know, I can't think for the life of me how she came about to know Braille, or if she even did, but further more to make this map I am at a loss for words right now. Well grandpa, I think we need to follow this map and see where it leads us, what do you think? I don't know John, I'm old and traveling is not my thing.

But don't you wanna know why grandma made this map and what is means? I am curious now that it is a part of her life I didn't know about, says Carl. I thought we shared everything together.

So it's settled then, I'm going home to pack a bag and I will be back here first thing in the morning to get you, get a good nights sleep we are headed for an adventure.

John shows up bright and early burst through the door shouting, ROAD TRIP! ROAD TRIP!

I still don't know about this John, what if it is something I don't want to find out about your grandmother? I love her so much, I would hate to have this ruin any of that and the moments we shared throughout our life. There is no way this is something bad, grandma was the most loving and caring person I knew and she loved you beyond compare, replied John.

I guess you're right, let's go and you better have snacks in the car, no road trip is complete without them. I have plenty of snacks, plus I brought some Geritol to help with the arthritis in your foot.

Keep it up John in this foot is gonna be up your butt and you gonna need medical attention to get it removed.

John laughs and says that's a good one grandpa.

Where does this map take us John?

About an hour and a half to College Station.

Really? Carl replies.

Why?

That is where your grandma and I met in college .

I have never heard the story of how you too met, and since we have some time to get to our destination I would love to hear about it and anything else you want to include.

Sure.

We were both freshman in college I was there on a football scholarship and she was there for arts.

I didn't know you played football, were you any good?

Good enough for college and I knew my career was not going anywhere further so I use the scholarship to get a free education and about halfway through my freshman year I started to notice this blonde haired beauty I would pass by in between classes. So finally after a couple of weeks I decided to introduce myself, I walked up to her and said hi my name is Carl, can I take you to lunch or out for a cup of coffee sometime?

She said my name is Amanda, nice to meet you and yes .

We went to this little cafe just off of campus she had a chocolate soft serve ice cream cone and I had a strawberry shake, we sat there in a booth across from one another talking about anything and everything. One hour turned into two, two turned into three, and the next thing I knew I had missed practice. Man did I get my butt chewed out by the coach the next day, but it was all worth it because it was the first time I had kissed your grandma.

That is a great story, we should be getting close.

What's the address?

I don't know it just gave me latitude and longitude.

They pull into the little cafe and Carl's eyes light up, I can't believe it this is the cafe that me and your grandma had our first date.

The one you told me about in the story grandpa?

The very one .

What does that little black notebook say we are supposed to do now that we're here?

It says: "A kiss took place in a spot that gave my heart pure bliss, from there you will find a note you don't want to miss."

What does that mean grandpa?

Carl repeats the Riddle in his head a few times and it dawned on him... that is the place they had their first kiss, right beside the phone booth.

Carl starts to walk around the side of the cafe and there is an old phone booth, no longer in service with graffiti all over it.

There's nothing here grandpa, except a bunch of trash. Well there has to be something because this is the spot we shared our first kiss, I remember like it was yesterday. After standing there confused and looking around John finally starts to pull trash out of the back that's wedged in between the cafe and the phone booth. He comes across a plastic bag folded with something in it. He opens the bag and there's an envelope with Carl's name on it. He shouts with excitement at his findings and hands the envelope to his grandpa.

Carl can't believe it, he is hesitant to open the envelope, John says go on the suspense is killing me.

Carl opens the envelope and reads the note inside: You must go to a place where the sun rises and falls upon my face, under a particular engraving you will find something amazing.

What does that mean? John asks.

There is or was this tree on campus that we used to eat lunch at all the time once we started dating. And we ended up carving our initials into the tree right after I proposed to her. I spoke those words during my proposal.

On to the college they go to find the tree and John ask what do you think is there?

I have no idea but I feel like a kid in a candy store, hurry up and who taught you how to drive anyway? Miss Daisy.

Who?

Never mind.

Carl is out of the car as soon as John puts it in park. Carl is shuffling off, John is asking him to wait up, he has never seen his grandpa in such a rush.

They make it to the tree and Carl is filled with memories, he walks around the tree two times before he stops and finds where they carved their initials and he sits down. John sits down and asks Carl to read the note again?

"You must go to a place where the sun rises and falls upon my face and under a particular engraving you will find something amazing."

There has to be something in the ground here. They both look around for something to dig with, there is a couple of fallen branches on the ground. John grabs one and starts to dig, about a foot down he hit something. Lifting it out of the ground he hands his grandpa a tin box. Carl opens it to discover a letter with a ring taped to it. Carl recognizes the ring right away and proceeds to unfold a letter and read it out loud.

Dear Carl,

Let me start out by saying I love you beyond compare and will love you in the next life also, you made me the happiest woman in the world by showing me every single day. This was the engagement ring you proposed to me with I know I lost it and you found it. Since we were going through difficult times financially back then, you decided to pawn it and make ends meet. I don't blame you for that at all and I know your pride and your love for me would not let you do anything else. So don't feel guilty about anything. I got the ring back and I didn't tell you because the ring signifies a great time in our lives then I never wanted to let go.

Love always Amanda

As Carl finished the letter tears started rolling down his face, and John wrapped his arms around him and began to cry himself.