7

=Exposition/Inciting Incident=

My grandfather was living with my family at our house from early June through late December of 2007 because he was sick. I asked my mom" What is grandpa sick with." My mother replied" He is in the last stage of colon cancer." He didn't have a lot of necessities at his old house so he left alot of his things there. He moved it to our living room since everything he could possibly need was on the first floor. Another reason he was sleeping in the living room was becuase we had a lot of couches in the living room so if he wasn't feeling good my mom could sleep on one of the couches. Since at that point he was at our house sick we saw people more often then usaul like my aunt and cousins stopped by. I found it funny because some of the people I hadn't seen since I was four years old. Most of them stopped by to see my grandfather, and didn't even say two words to my family or me. Also a lot of my grandpa's and grandma's friends and family stop by constantly. They stayed for about a good two hours every visit. My mom helped as if she was nurse helping a paralyzed person. For instance my mom had bathe him because he wasn't strong enough to do it himself. Before he was at our house he was in the hospital. When he came home from the lonely hospital he looked so hungry he could eat a whole farm. He didn' like to eat at the hospital since the food felt soggy and looked old. Before we knew it his birthday was here, and everyone showed up at our house it was more fun then any of our parties have ever been. All of the adults were reminiscing about "the good old days" as they called it. He looked so happy to be at our house instead of his.

Rising Action=

My grandfather said," I don't want to go to back to the hospital." Right away I asked, " Why not." There was no reply to my question. All he did was sigh. I realized that it was a sore spot to talk about. Later at my house my mom told me" J.J. the reason he doesn't want to go back is he knows he is dying, but he wants to see us as much as he possibly could before he passes away. Plus he loves you just as much as a bee loves honey." I was thinking the whole night he must really love us to see us instead of getting more treatment and staying alive a little longer. Not going back to the hospital made him so sick he couldn't walk. We all know walking is key transportation. His legs were just too weak to walk. Which means he couldn't always make it to the bathroom. To top that the radiation from the Chemo Therapy was making him sick to his stomach. Chemo therapy was the one thing he would go to the hospital for besides that the closest thing to the hospital was our house when nurses would make sure everything is going smoothly. He didn't like the Chemo therapy, but he knew he had to go. He looked really bad as if already allof his life was being sucked out of him. I thought his decision was kind of laughing at him, but he looked happier then he did in the hospital.

=Climax=

One cold, windy night in December my grandfather wasn't feeling well. His groaning greatly bothered me because his voice was changing it's pitch a lot, so I asked if my sister and I could go to my aunt's house which was a big house covered with beautiful stone, and they just moved to town. We were having a blast playing with our aunt's dogs Mercedes and Cocoa. The nurse that comes to our house told us "There is nothing to worry about." Boy was she ever wrong. The next morning he died of not being able to breathe. I was really upset, but I knew I couldn't upset anyone else by crying so I waited until I was in my room. The worst thing about it was I wasn't even there when it happened. He always said that the early bird gets the worm, and he died as a the early bird. I had walked home to a flood of tears produced by my aunt, mom, and my grandmother. My whole family was there. I felt really guilty not being able to see him the day he died.My seven year old sister was the most devastated out of all the grandchildren, and didn't go to school te next day even though I did. It was five days before Christmas too. He always slept over our house on Christmas, but this year he obviously didn't make it. In a period of time of about two days everybody my grandpa really knew paid their respects, and then everything slowed down again until the wake and funeral. I asked my mom " Are you okay." She replied "No, not really." She isolated herself in the living room until the wake the next night. I didn't go because I don't like to see people dead. Now I regret ever suggesting to go to my aunt's house.

=Falling Action=

We were all sad about our grandfather's death, but will still held our family's Christmas Eve party at or house. I helped prepare for the party. I was in charge of straiting up all the rooms. The house looked spectacular for the party. We ordered food from my dad's friend's restuarant in Livingston. I thought to myself throughout the party about how could we all be happy when we lost a family member four days ago. I didn't like the idea of still having a party. Even my mom was happy and making jokes. It just didn't make sense. At dinner that night we paid tribute to my grandfather by proposing a toast in his name. The toast was for all of us to remember his name. My dad was the one who proposed the toast. I heard the stairs creak and saw my mom crying while going upstairs right after the toast. When I went to sleep that night I had a dream that my grandfather was there on Christmas Day. That was good enough to make put the Christmas spirit in me, but when I told my brother about my dream and how I felt about it he called me gullible. I think he called me gullible because he thought my dream decieved me to think he was still alien. On Christmas Day I woke up with a bang! I was happy with my presents especially the earlier gift which was my dream the night before. The dream was so real it made me happy. The only thing I didn't like about that day was I was the first one to wake-up, and we have a tradition to wait until everyone is up. I hugged and kissed my mom and dad then thankfully said, "Thankyou for my presents." My parents shushed me because they did not want my seven year old sister to not believe in Santa Claus. Thank God she didn't or else I wold have been in real big trouble. My sister will believe anything you tell her. She is also very obedient. My brother said, " What stupid gifts." I said,"I wonder who woke up on the wrong side of the bed." He was just mad because he didn't like his presents.

=Resolution=

By New Year's Eve we all started to calm down because of all of the joy that comes with Christmas and New Years. We really started to become hppy again even though are grandpa just died. We looked back at my grandpa's death as only if it was a bad dream. Both my mom and dad's families spent New Year's Eve at my dad's family's new house in town. Even a few family friends stopped by for a visit. Me and my older brother played the game Scene-It since he said that I could not beat him, eventhough I crushed him in it. My mother all of the sudden looked really sad because she thought my grandfather would make it to the year 2008. A piece of her died with him because when she was younger she was daddy's little girl. She used to stick up for him when he got in fights with my grandmother, and he stuck up for her when she got in fights with her brother or sister. She commented to me at the party in the kitchen, " I was he his favorite child you know, but he loved all three of us when we were younger.' " You were his favorite child?" I interjected. "Yup." ,she replied, "I got to go shopping maybe we will talk later." I didn't ask her to talk again because I could see she was sad. Whenever we look back at pictures it makes us all feel a ton of sorrow. I will always remember that he could make a joke out of anything. I realized then that emotional death can be just as painful as physical death.