Dark Night

More Olympics

The elder Tangs invited us to lunch, which Grandpa and I accepted, and we had a fun time. Learned a lot about China, too. We parted ways after lunch and Grandpa and I went to the National Museum of China on Tiananmen Square. We got through an exhibition on fan painting and one on carved jade before we were feeling cultured out and footsore, so we returned to the hotel. It was good that we did, because Grandpa started to feel poorly. The hotel had a doctor on call, and I insisted that Grandpa get checked out. The diagnosis was that something Grandpa had eaten in the past day or two disagreed with him and a remedy was recommended. I followed directions to a pharmacy and the clerk found what I needed. Grandpa went to lie down and I took the opportunity to take a nice long bath (my feet and legs really were tired) and ran through my stretches, finishing up by updating my Instagram and catching up with texts from friends. I got a text that Mom and Dad were eating out and would be back later, so feeling hungry again and Grandpa down for the count, I went downstairs to one of the restaurants in the hotel that served an eclectic menu of Chinese and Western dishes. I tried a duck dish, very delicious, and finished with a piece of ginger cheesecake and yet another kind of tea. They had ginger tea, which was supposed to be good for digestion, so I bought a container of that at their shop and took it up to Grandpa. If he was hungry, we could order him some room service; I'd been assured that there were delicious clear broths with and without noodles.

I'd started to watch the pairs competition by the time Grandpa came out. He wasn't hungry, he said, but he tried some ginger tea. We watched the programs mostly in companionable silence until my parents came in about halfway through. They were concerned about Grandpa, who still didn't look quite healthy, but he said he was feeling better. Nancy and Todd finished fourth with an ambitious program that had some wobbles; an underrotated landing by Nancy, imperfect unison in one of their spins, a bit of a stumble that caused Todd to pop the second jump of a combination. I texted Todd congratulations on what had been a good performance anyway. About an hour later he texted back; he was disappointed, of course, but overall was upbeat about the experience.

Mom and Dad went to bed, and Grandpa said that he wasn't sure he'd be able to go to the slopestyle event the next day. "I don't want you going alone, punkin, I know you're smart and self-reliant, but this is a foreign country with so many tourists here for the games." I thought for a minute.

"What about if I brought a friend?" I asked. "Maybe Paul would like to come. I know where the event is and how to get there and back." Grandpa thought about that for a moment.

"Can you get his parent's phone number?" he asked, and I smiled.

"They're just at a hotel down the street," I said, and he called the hotel. Meanwhile I texted Paul, who was very enthusiastic about the proposal. Between Grandpa and the Tangs, we got the ok to go the next day on our own.

I kissed his cheek. "Thank you for bringing me along, Grandpa. This whole trip has been phenomenal." He petted my hair.

"Well, punkin, you deserve to be here as much as any of us, especially with the help you gave your brother with his program." He was silent a moment. "You asked me once why neither I nor Grandma noticed what was happening to you, in your family. I know now how hard it was for you, and I'm so very proud of the person you're becoming and the life you're creating for yourself. I can't make up for taking things at face value then, but I can show you that I'm paying attention now. And soon you'll be going away, starting your own life, so I wanted to take the opportunity to give you an experience to remember. Aside from my current stomach problems, I'm healthy and happy and plan to be around for many more years, but one day I won't be here. But you'll be able to look back on this as a good memory and remember just how much I love you." My eyes filled and overflowed.