"Here I am, Gramps!"

Nancy's small voice came to him out of the shadows, and he jumped at its sound. He turned rapidly toward it and peered into the near darkness… finally making out a form on the bed.

"Nancy!" he said loudly… "What are you doing here? What is it you want… Come on out of here… you know there is no electricity!"

"I just wanted to talk to you Gramps… I'm here on the bed…"

John stumbled over a chair, almost falling in his inebriated state, and then reached the bed where his granddaughter lay. He sat down heavily beside her, reaching into his pocket for a handkerchief to wipe the sweat off his forehead.

"Well?" he was beginning to get angry. "Here I am! What do you want to talk about!"

It was eerie. Nancy began to chat with him about all sorts of things. All in a baby soft voice that seemed to pierce his heart with poignancy. His mind began to wander as she talked and he recalled how Tricia had sounded when as a child she would seek him out and talk to him for hours about her problems. God how he missed those days! Now his grandchild was talking to him in the same way… and he felt like crying because of the bitter sweet sensation it caused to well up inside him.

He really wasn't listening very closely to what she was saying… the sound of her voice seemed almost more important than what she was saying. He couldn't even see her very well, but from time to time her eyes seemed to gleam, and he could feel her small body shifting and squirming around on the bed. "You must have had lots of experience with women…"

For the first time, John was hearing every word. What was the child talking about?

"I bet you had lots of girlfriends…"

John gulped. The tiny figure stirred beside him. She was still lying down. He wished she would sit up.