Rubbing Grandpa’s Leg

After a long week of stressful studies for my exams, my former boyfriend and I decided to go home for a weekend break to stay with my family. When my grandmother heard we were going to visit, she got really excited as usual and invited us over for lunch. One cannot say no to my grandmother; she does not take no for an answer. Also, she really loved my former boyfriend a lot and she still talks about him.

The day finally came and my parents, grandparents, my former boyfriend and I finally sat together at the table in the lounge. Grandma had cooked delicious food according to my boyfriend’s likings and she was highlighting the fact that all the food was halal since he was a Muslim.

What you don’t know is that my grandmother is a comedian. She was in the wrong career her entire life. She should have been a comedian, but she decided to have a family and a regular job to comply with the society’s requirements at the time. My grandfather instead is a quiet man, serious and very calculated. He has a sense of humor but when he laughs, it is more like an inner laughter and the visual part is just a smile.

While all of ate and praised her food, my grandpa made a sound: “hmm”…. with a cheeky smile on his face. Then he said, “Listen all of you, I would like to share a story with you”. All of us knowing he is not the funny type listen carefully expecting something serious was coming up.

He looked at me with the same cheeky smile and said in a grave tone: “the day your father decided to propose to your mother, your grandma and I decided to make a big festive dinner table. While all of us were seated and debating about the marriage and the proposal, I felt someone’s leg rubbing against my leg under the table. I kept quiet just to see how long it will go on for. After four hours of the leg rubbing, I looked under the table and said, “Who is rubbing my leg since the past four hours? Your father became pale. He was rubbing my leg for the past four hours instead of your mother’s!”

He then looked at my former boyfriend and with a smile he said, ”I think you did the same mistake a few minutes back.” My former boyfriend had been rubbing my grandfather’s leg too!

All of us burst into a hysterical laugh. We laughed so hard that the table shook. I could see the glasses spill on the table cloth, but we did not care. The joke was too funny to not laugh at. Poor guy! He must have felt so embarrassed. This incident became an everyday joke on him. But thanks to his witty personality, he took them all very well and laughed with us.