両親と弟と一緒に母方の祖父母に会いに行った。祖父は、僕が子どもの頃に比べると随分小さくなった。身体が老いてうまく動かなくなってきたこともあってか、彼が纏っていた威圧感、というか圧迫感はだいぶ薄れたと感じる。母が実家を出るまで、彼は相当横暴だったと何度か聞いたことがあったが、今では弟の挑発的とも取れる発言にも怒ったりせず、誤魔化すように笑っていた。
一方で、祖母には今でも乱暴な接し方をするらしく、祖母は時々母に相談していると前に聞いた。最近、近所に住んでいる友だちの間で僕の祖父が亡くなったという噂が広まり、祖母の耳にもそれが届いたそうだが、「じいちゃんが亡くなったんだってって〇〇さんから聞かれて、そうだったらいいのにねえとか言ってね」と、僕らの前では笑い話にしていた。それでも、相談の折に母から「別居すればいいんじゃないか」と勧められると、「じいちゃんは私がいなくなったら何もできないから」と言って、一緒にいる方を選ぶという。夕方に僕らがお暇するとき、二人は並んで見送ってくれた。また会いにこよう、と思った。
I went to visit my mum’s parents with my parents and younger brother. My grandfather seems so much smaller now than he did when I was a child. Perhaps because he has grown old and can no longer move about as easily, the intimidating presence he once had has faded considerably. I had often heard that he was extremely domineering when my mum was growing up, but now, even when my brother made remarks that could have been taken as provocative, he did not get angry. He simply laughed them off, as if trying to brush them aside.
Apparently, though, he still treats my grandmother harshly, and I heard some time ago that she occasionally speaks to my mum about it. Recently, a rumour went round among some friends who live nearby that my grandfather had died. It eventually reached my grandmother as well. “Mrs So-and-so asked me if it was true that Grandad had died,” she told us, turning it into a funny story. “I said, ‘If only!’” And yet, when my mum has suggested that they could live apart, my grandmother has always chosen to stay with him. “Grandad wouldn’t be able to do anything without me,” she says.
When we headed home that evening, the two of them stood side by side to see us off. I thought to myself that I would come and visit them again.
