the great grandson

by peterbowes on November 18, 2023

We met today for the first time, our great grandson, he’s 2.5 years old and doesn’t like to look at a face he doesn’t know.
Mine.
So I wait.
Watching him. His laughing companionship with his father and grandfather, his grandmother. The wide-eyed look from his eyes to them and only them. Trust.
An hour into the meal and I find him staring at me from the nest of his father’s arms, wondering perhaps why this stranger, me, is talking and laughing so easily with his parents.
Then, minutes later I find his eyes, blue and wide and innocent looking at me again. Unflinchingly.
Ten minutes later my wife nudges my arm, says look and I see that the little bloke is gazing at her with the beginnings of a smile.
Our boy.