Grandpa's Wish

Back in 1933 when I was only ten Grandpa Leroy came to live With me and Ma and Ben Grandpa had a yearning Since he was a tyke To fill his boyhood fantasy And own a shiny bike But times were tough in Grandpa's time And life it was no joy Because his parents told him They could not afford a toy So two days after Gramps arrived When he'd unpacked his trunk He asked us kids where in this town He'd find some good used junk We took him to the junkyard dog Whose dump was one mile hike And asked old Earl if he had the parts To make old Gramps a bike Within an hour the "dog" produced A bent up frame and wheel Some broken spokes, a twisted chain And offered the best of deals The seat was missing, the fender crushed But Grandpa didn't stammer He knew that frame wouldn't misbehave When he hit it with a hammer "It's taken me these sixty years To own this bike, he sighed And now the thing that's left to do Is finally learn to ride! Up at dawn and in his shed A 'pounding on the steel Trying to turn a broken wreck To something that looked real We'd hear him cuss when he smashed his thumb Or the wheel wasn't right And his cursing would continue Til the middle of the night But at last one morning Round bout five As I crawled up out my bed I heard a shriek of sheer delight coming from the shed Out the door came a figure clad In bright red underwear Riding on a bicycle Wind blowing through his hair His eyes were wide And his mouth agape As through the dust he rode Narrowly missing a turkey who was headed for the road He peddled madly through the dirt Screamingly as proud and fond Never looking he was heading Right for Miller's Pond With a terrible thump He hit a rock And tumbled with a howl Falling with a mighty thump And scaring all the fowl The newly built bike was a twisted mess And Grandpa was a wreck Covered in mud and dirty With a turkey round his neck We pulled old Grandpa from the muck And dragged the twisted frame But the poor old geezer didn't care And quietly said "Oh shame" "I've had my fun - my last hurrah My birthdays come too fast Tomorrow I'll be eighty Much longer I won't last I got my special wishes I'm happy just for that Now, I'm going walking Please, kids find my hat"