I like to believe that some things in life never change. A constant, ever since I could hold a pen, has been the routine at lunch with my grandfather. My grandmother will ask me how the walk was from my parents' house before I take a seat at their kitchen table.
Sitting in his usual spot in the comer is my grandfather. He looks up for a quick "hello" before heading back down to the crossword purz.le in front of him.
"So, how is this one coming alone?" I'll ask. With a failed laugh, he'll slide the crossword toward me. Carefully cut and neatly folded from his newspaper, three quarters of it will already have been finished. Many of the clues are far too advanced for me to figure out. However, I'm happy to help with the strange clue related to sports - my expert knowledge一that still remains.
Even if I'm certain of an answer, I fill in the squares with a pencil, as clues are always checked thoroughly by my grandfather. In the rare event that we're unable to finish the crossword by the end of lunch, he'll call me later that evening to go over the clues he later solved.
Today, lunch unfolds in its usual manner. However, large parts of the puzzle are blank.
"Grandfather, I think this is 49 down... and this, 52 across," I say.
"Oh, right Yes, put that down there," he replies.
I reach across the table to hand him the crossword. Looking at him as he searches for answers, suddenly l feel something different. I note his hair is whiter than I remembered. For the first time I think about my grandfather as, well, a grandfather.
But life is about change we aren't always prepared for. Just as we are on different ends of life, we find ourselves on different ends of the city now too. But at lunch, when we lake up our pens and open the crossword, the world stands pleasantly sill. Now, instead of an exercise of quick wit (才思), our crosswords are about patience and understanding. As clues are slowly understood, so are the truths in life.
