My name's Christy Lewis and this is my story. Let me start off by telling you a little bit about me. I'm 18 years old and I live with my grandparents. My mom and dad were killed in a car accident by a drunk driver when I was 12. I didn't have any other family close by except Pops and Granny. I didn't adjust to living on their farm too well, at first. I had been raised in a small apartment in the heart of downtown Miami, so when I was shipped to the small town of Springton, it was quite a culture shock.
I was used to sleeping in on the weekends, but around here it's rise and shine at 5 a.m. There's no MTV, no cell phones and no coffee houses on the corner. My days are pretty much filled with helping Pops tend to the animals and the back breaking chores of farm life. The responsibility pretty much fell on me and Pops when Granny developed pneumonia after getting caught out in a freak snowstorm.
I would usually cook for them, and help Pops clean Granny and make her comfortable. Unfortunately this led to me being the last one in the shower at night, sometimes as late as 1 a.m. Well one night in the late hours, Pops emerged from his bedroom, unusually restless.
"Everything ok, Pops?"
"Oh I'm not sure honey, I just can't seem to sleep tonight," he answered, getting himself a glass of water.
"Is there anything I can do?" I asked, drying my hair, fresh from my shower.
At that moment, Pops turned to me with a look on his face I had never seen on him or anyone else.
"You know, your granny and I have been married over 53 years," he began, "And when two people have been married that long, some things begin to... lapse."
I sat there in my short white bathrobe, my hair wet and my long legs crossed listening to Pops tell his story.
"Anyway, what I'm getting at is... well, Christy, you're not a little girl anymore and I think I can say this to you without there being too much of a weird feeling," he said.
"You can tell me anything Pops, you know that," I assured him.
He walked over and sat across from me at the small dining room table.
"A man has needs, Christy, even a man my age... do you understand where I'm going with this?" he asked.
I thought about it for a moment and suddenly I got chills.
"I-I think so Pops," I managed to say.
He smiled as he reached up and closed the kitchen curtains, "You're a smart girl, Christy, I knew you'd understand."
I suddenly realized how dark the kitchen had become with just a small bit of light peaking thru the window of the back door.
"Christy, open your robe for me, please," said Pops in a very hushed voice.