mawkish
[maw-kish]
1. characterized by sickly sentimentality; weakly emotional; maudlin.
2. having a mildly sickening flavor; slightly nauseating.
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“Jerry, go to your grandma.”
Said the teen’s dad. Jerry let
out a long, slow breath in response to the order.
“Do I
have to, dad?” Jerry asked.
“Yes,
you do. Right now just being with her
and listening to her is the best thing you can do.”
Jerry
groaned lightly as he stood and made his way over to his grandmother. He knew he shouldn’t complain. He knew he should be willing to comfort her without
having to be asked. He knew a lot of
things about the moment. But right then,
none of it seemed to matter much. He
would rather have been playing something one his phone than anything else.
He
trudged through the house, ducking passed quietly talking relatives until he
found his grandma, sitting alone on the couch.
The elderly woman sat looking at an old photo album. She was almost motionless as she looked at
the pages. Occasionally, she would raise
her thick glasses and wipe her eyes, and every so often she would flip to
another page. But other than that, there
was little movement on her part.
Jerry
sat down next to her and glanced at the pages.
It was an album he had seen dozens of times before. As a child, he loved listening to the stories
of the past the old, worn pictures prompted.
Now the he had heard them all a hundred times they had lost just about
all of their impact though.
“Grandma?”
Jerry said when she didn’t react to his presence. Her head shot up in surprise and she looked
over at him.
“Oh
Jeremy, I’m sorry I didn’t see you there.” She said with a weak, sad smile.
“It’s
okay grandma.” Jerry said. “Are you okay though?”
“Oh,
yes, yes. I’ll be all right. It’s just…well, you know what.”
He
could imagine. He had only known grandpa
for the 16 years he had been alive. Grandma
had known him for at least the 57 years they had been married, and even several
years before that. He had certainly not
been happy when grandpa left, so he could only imagine how she felt.
“Yeah,
I know.” He thought of the best thing he
could do to cheer her up. One look at
the album, and he knew what he had to do.
He didn’t like it, but he could at least tolerate it. “So, um, that’s grandpa’s favorite photo
album, right?”
“Oh,
this? Yes, he did love this one, didn’t
he? He was quite the sentimentalist, you
know.” Grandma said. Jerry stifled a laugh. Grandpa may have liked to tell stories, but
Grandma was the really sentimental one. It
was almost nauseating how much she loved that sort of thing. At least it was for him. “In fact, this one right here was his
absolute favorite.” She continued,
pointing at one of the photos. “Did he
ever tell you about this one? Oh, I’m
sure he must have at least once.”
“I guess
he might have mentioned it once or twice.”
Jerry said. The photo was one of
Grandpa, his friends, and Jerry’s dad as a boy.
They all stood in front of a tree that was small back then. The tree was, of course, quite a bit bigger
now. “But it’s been awhile.” He said.
“Well
then, why don’t I refresh your memory a bit.”
She said.
Grandma
looked almost happy as she told the story that Jerry had heard so many times
before. He did his best to look
interested. Besides, it was clear she
wasn’t telling the story for his sake. It
wasn’t long before her words began to stutter and tears welled up in her
eyes. A few seconds after that, she was
full on crying.
Jerry placed
his hands on the thin shoulders of his grandmother. She stifled her tears to look at him. She didn’t last long before they started
flowing again. It was several minutes
before she regained any amount of composure.
“I…I’m
sorry Jeremy. It’s just that you look so
much like him when he was your age, you know that?”
Looking
like Grandpa was certainly new. He had
been told he looked like his dad more often than he’d like, but not really
Grandpa.
“Just
you being here reminds me of so much from so long ago.” She continued. Her eyes seemed to glaze over and her
trembling fingers ran over the pages of the album.
“Grandma? Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I…I
will, be yes. It might take a little while,
but I’ll be all right.”
“Do you
want me to go?” He knew it was wrong,
but he couldn’t help it that part of him was hoping she would say no.
“If it’s
all the same, I think I would like your company right now, actually.” Grandma said.
She placed hand gently over his and
gave him another weak, sad smile. She
leaned on his shoulders and it wasn’t long before tears started flowing
again. As Jerry lightly rubbed her back,
he thought a bit. He came to the conclusion
that he could deal with not playing a game for a few minutes longer.
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Hm, you know, I'm not really sure this is quite the intended meaning of this word. Reading the definition again, it looks like it's referring to something a little less...justified. You know, like those people who go to pieces at the slightest showing of emotion or sentimentality. Not, you know, a woman losing her husband after almost 60 years of marriage. Oh well, this is what I went with, take it or leave it. I'm too lazy to change it right now.
This one was sweet!
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