10,000 Words Part Three: Silence

The brothers tussled, turned the air blue and knocked knick knacks from whatnots till mum came back from work.
Granddad let them alone:
made jam sandwiches and chocolate milk when required, blessed his deafness and switched his hearing aid off.
Grandma, long gone from even the eldest’s memory, scolded, cursed and clipped them round the ears.
A shiver down the back, the urge to cry.
The boys would pause and flinch, sorries dropping unbidden from their lips.
The old man smiled:
“Thanks love.”