Huge thanks and credit to Iona Lowe for audio production and editing.
Story and reading by Adam RW. Full story below.
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TODAY
There were a number of less notable differences between Greg and his grandpa. Greg’s warm embrace would be met by an uncertain pat on the back from his older relative. The ease with which Greg said “I love you” would be greeted with a sombre nod and a single “yes”. Greg’s commitment to whimsy, his grandpa’s taste for order and calm. These were all by the by, a standard and predictable set of contrasts that would not look out of place in your average dining room.
But there was one fundamental difference between them. And this was his grandpa’s insistence on shouting.
WE ARE WELL
THANK YOU
Two lines. No punctuation. Phone calls, increasingly infrequent, face-to-face meetings even rarer now with the busyness of day-to-day life. So they came to rely on emails to communicate. But his grandpa did not appear to be aware of the existence of the caps lock button. So every exchange took on the appearance of a terse tennis match, Greg gently lobbing small invitations to his grandpa who then smashed them back in his face.
Sorry for the slow reply, Gramps,
Greg would type in the proper case and tense, as if his own style might serve as a gentle hint to his grandpa on the correct means of expressing himself.
Things are a bit crazy at the moment. How are you getting on, how was your weekend?
Two hours later:
IT WAS GOOD
Enter, enter.
THANK YOU
Then, another email, five minutes afterwards.
HOW ARE YOU
Hours later in the pub, Greg would flick open his phone and look down at the email before sighing and hastily stashing it away. He pulled out it back out at the end of the weekend and tapped out a quick few words in response. His grandpa fired back.
BOUGHT FISHCAKES AT THE SHOP TODAY
Nice! Greg replied some two days later. He allowed himself an exclamation mark in some attempt to match his grandpa’s tone.
How were they?
Proper case, question mark correctly sitting at the end of the sentence.
Grandpa came back.
NOT BAD BIT HOT ON THE INSIDE THOUGH
BURNT MY MOUTH
Greg chuckled. A few hours later. What are you up to today?
GETTING MY PROSTATE CHECKED
Ah!
Greg paused, unsure of how to respond with the requisite level of seriousness.
Hope it goes well, he typed. Smiley face.
DON’T WORRY JUST A CHECK-UP
THE DOCTOR IS A NICE CHAP
And so it went.
Greg could not help but be slightly confused by these exchanges. Because by hand his grandfather had been an excellent writer of letters, punctuating them with great distinction, displaying a full mastery of the usage of upper and lower cases. But these modern methods of communication seemed to do something to him, render him unable to convey himself with the gentle precision that was his trademark in normal speech. What was it in a computer’s keyboard and screen that transmogrified him into something less. Greg was unsure. He did not have the time to come to a firm conclusion.
Weeks passed and their correspondence slowed. But on a morning in the height of summer, Greg opened his phone and scrolled down through a cluttered inbox. There sat within it tickets, bookings, marketing assaults, photos, reminders, maps of life. He descended passively, a waiter in an elevator, until the bell dinged as he reached a single glistening unread email from his Grandfather.
It was titled TODAY. Quite naturally, all in caps.
TODAY IS 8 HOURS AND 49 MINUTES LONGER THAN THE SHORTEST DAY
OBVIOUSLY THATS NOT RIGHT - BOTH DAYS ARE 24 HOURS LONG
It was still all in caps. But he did not hear him shouting anymore.
BUT TODAY - THERE ARE 8 HOURS AND 49 MINUTES MORE DAYLIGHT THAN SIX MONTHS AGO AND SIX MONTHS TIME
IT IS AN UNLOVELY NUMBER
THERE DOES NOT APPEAR TO BE ANY SPECIAL SIGNIFICANCE TO IT
BUT STILL THE THOUGHT - NOT THE NUMBER - WARMS ME
THAT THE DAY CAN MORE THAN DOUBLE IN THE SPACE OF SIX SHORT MONTHS
NEED TO REMEMBER THIS
WHEN IT GETS COLD AGAIN
AND I KNOW THE LAST FEW YEARS HVE BEEN HARD FOR YOU AND I HAVE NOT BEEN VERY GOOD AT SPEAKING TO YOU ABOUT IT
BUT I MISS YOUR MUM EVERY DAY
I THINK WHEN SHE WENT THAT WAS ALMOST IT FOR ME
I KNOW YOU SHOULDNT HAVE A FAVOURITE BUT
Grandpa left this line unfinished.
SO I AM SORRY
BUT
I ALWAYS LOVED THAT SHE WAS BORN ON THE LONGEST DAY
Greg wiped his face and looked up at the sky. He had never relished the length of the solstice, each extending second a reminder of what the day had been. He paused for a moment then typed back.
Thanks Gramps. I really appreciate that. Lots of love to you and Gran. Coming down next weekend - looking forward to seeing you both.
Ps. There’s this thing called the caps lock button in the middle on the left hand side of your keyboard. It helps you switch between cases. You can probably Google it - but otherwise I’ll show you when I’m down.
Gramps replied instantly in the proper case:
I know, he said. Just wanted to make sure that you could hear me.
