Fred Sovyak. No middle name needed.
My grandpa was the type of man who took hours to get ready. He always had to look pristine for his family. No matter the occasion. He would start his routine with a steamy hot shower followed by a quick shave and teeth brushing. He was the type of man who did not share his food and would save equal amounts of the dish so when he’d finish, he’d have a bite of each food left to enjoy. I always wondered why. I wondered a lot of things about my grandpa, how he knew all the answers to my questions, why he did the things he did. It was the last day of our annual beach trip down to North Carolina. The day was to start off with my sister Kylie and I’s breakfast date with Pap- Pap. I loved this tradition. It was time where Kylie and I could learn about our past and just catch up with our grandpa. “You girls pick somewhere you’d like to go for breakfast?”, my grandpa said while he smiled “There is a new place right across the bridge that looked nice.”, I said. “Alright knuckle muckles” he said giving us both a tap on the butt and kiss on the forehead while we headed out the door. My sister and I raced down the stairs, “Shotgun!” Kylie yelled Disappointed and not surprised by the outcome, I hoped in the backseat. Pap-Pap came down the stairs shortly after giggling to himself. When he sat down in the drivers seat he said, “Didn’t get there in time, Shel bell?” I sarcastically laughed. “Alright Fred lets go!” While driving down the island I saw a biker ahead. He was on the road, which he thought was the best option between a narrow road and the sidewalk a foot away. My grandpa, eighty years old is a road biker so he didn’t care, he just carried on. We were starting to approach the biker. I tapped my sister’s shoulder. We were getting too close for comfort. My grandpa raced by the biker giving him little room to maneuver. I was satisfied with my what seems to be now, winning seat. I thought to myself. Why didn’t he move over or slow down. Giving it no more thought I resumed to looking out the window at the beachgoers and the stilted houses. Minutes passed and we were finally at the bridge. We were about to take a left on the bridge approaching the stop sign. Thinking we would slow down sometime soon, Pap-Pap soon realized the stop sign he had been using for fifty years. He slammed on the breaks while my neck snapped to my chest. What was he thinking? He knows there is a stop sign there. We made our left turn and I sat still wondering about his driving ability. Safely arriving at our destination a sigh of relief came from both my sisters and I’s mouth. We walked inside and were briefly seated at a secluded booth. Most people were probably enjoying there last morning of their vacation at the beach. The waitress approached our table and started with my Grandpa who sat next to me at the end of the booth. “Can I start y’all with something to drink?”, starring at my grandpa “I will take a decaf coffee. Fresh pot please. “ “I’ll take a chocolate milk please”, I said “Same” Kylie repeated “I’ll be right back with that” Kylie and I always ordered the same thing. We would always argue about who would order first. You order this time we’d say. It wasn’t a big deal to order but to my sister and I it was something to argue about. We were close and fought rarely but little arguments like these were where we could get out our frustration. My grandpa on the other hand would always order a decaf coffee, freshly brewed only. His decaf coffee was precisely prepared with two packs of sugar and half a creamer cup. We had finished our meal. We were pretty silent while scarfing down our breakfast. I turned to my Pap-Pap. “Can you tell us about Grand Marnie and how you met each other?” I never met my grandmother. Her name was Melissa Marlene Mahan and she was the only woman my grandpa ever truly loved. She was beautiful. She was kind and I never had the pleasure of meeting her. She did not want to be called Melissa however, so she went by Marnie. When my sister was born, her name then changed again to Grand Marnie. My Grandpa did not start with meeting Grand Marnie however. He went all the way back in our family history to when his parents moved to America from Austria Hungary. They moved to Pittsburgh and started a family. My grandpa was one of seven. However the first child passed shortly after birth. He was the youngest of all the siblings and was raised by his older sisters. “Your Pap-Pap,” he started, “was raised by his oldest sisters. They would look after me. Your great grandparents didn’t pay too much attention to your Pap-Pap. “ He went on to tell us about his young rebellious years. My grandfather told us about putting dynamite caps on the railroad tracks. He told us he and his buddies would set the caps up and watch from a far while the train hit the dynamite. He also told us about sneaking drinks from his Uncle Harry’s bar. He was a city boy looking for trouble anywhere he went until he got a scholarship to swim at the University of Wyoming. Pittsburgh to Laramie, 1,455 miles from home. He told us about his twenty hours on the road to Wyoming. He told us he would make money being a cowboy herding sheep and cattle. He would try to make enough money so he could go home for the holidays ,but he never made enough. He would spend holidays with his friends and their families. He would receive care packages however from his sisters back home. “It was ok,” he said “my sisters would send me booze and clothes. That was illegal but hell.” Two short years swimming and studying at Wyoming passed and he was then drafted into the army. He would start boot camp soon and would drive the duck vehicles. The duck was an army truck that could travel on both land and water. After returning home from serving, he started a job for Allegheny Power. Where he met Grand Marnie. His eyes started to water thinking about her. He then began to answer my original question about how he met her. “It was the first day of work and I walked into the main office of the power plant. Two desks were at the front, at one desk a pretty red head,” my grandpa had a thing for red heads, “and at the other was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I was nervous walking up to her.” “Hi” my grandpa said nervously “Good Morning, how may I help you” “It’s my first day, my name is Fred Sovyak.” “Right this way” my grandmother said walking him to his new desk. “Thank you” “If you need anything, you know where to find me” giving him a wink before she walked away. “I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I planned my day around how I would ‘accidently’ run into her. I would take the long way to the bathroom just so I could pass by her desk. I would watch her from my desk thinking about how one day, if I ever got the nerves, I would ask her out.” “About a month passed,” he continued after finishing his second cup of fresh decaf coffee. “ I had finally just walked up to her desk. “ “Marlene, would you like to grab dinner with me this weekend. I will pick you up.” “Of course” she said smiling “I will see you then” He walked back to his desk heart pounding and a smile he couldn’t stop from appearing on his face. He was so happy and wanted to make this date perfect for Marnie. “That was it, I had known she was the one from the moment I saw her and that first date was the beginning of our life together.” After putting in about two and half hours at the secluded booth, it was time to go. I voluntarily sat in the backseat of the car and told my sister it was my pleasure. We arrived back to the beach house safely and I could not wait to get back to the hot sand. I spread out my sun-bleached towel on the afternoon sand. I laid down covering my face with my Dave Matthews t-shirt. While I drifted off with the sun beating down on me I thought about my morning with Pap. It seems so simple. He is obviously getting older. I had never truly saw it like that. It always seemed like my sister and I were the only ones growing up and my parents and grandparents were staying the same age. After that morning however I saw my grandpa struggling with his aged reaction time and body. But one thing seemed to be as sharp as ever, his memory. His mind and memory are still perfect and crystal clear. The stories, the memories, and the knowledge he holds still amazes me to this day. Fred Sovyak. No middle name needed.
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