One story announces the birth of Lowell H. Gramps commands that everyone else watch in silence. In response to nearly every news story, Gramps claims, "We did that a hundred years ago!" or "We said that a hundred years ago!" (321). The entire family is watching the news on television. He regularly claims he will let himself die when a certain occasion has come, but then chooses a later occasion, so that the family does not believe him. In contrast, Gramps looks seventy, his age when anti-gerasone was invented. In their conversation, Em forcefully suggests that they try to facilitate Gramps's death by diluting his anti-gerasone - this would eventually bring on his natural death.Įm and Lou return inside to face Gramps and the rest of their extended family, all of whom appear to be in their late twenties or early thirties due to anti-gerasone. Gramps will not die until he decides to, meaning that people like Lou and Em will never have a chance to progress to greater comforts. Lou and Em recall the days when people were exploring space now, escaping Earth is too expensive to be feasible. Thus, most people must eat processed seaweed and processed sawdust. All the earth's supply of metal and gasoline has been used up, and there is no more arable land for growing crops. Through Lou and Em's conversation, we learn that few people are dying of natural causes because all the diseases have been cured. At the time the story starts, Lou and Em are enjoying that comfort. Exploiting his seniority, Gramps decides who gets to sleep on the only other comfortable piece of furniture - a daybed - based on who is currently in his favor. Lou and Em live in a crowded apartment with their entire extended family, crammed onto mattresses in the hallway, while Gramps keeps the only private bedroom for himself. It is made from mud and dandelions, and is readily available to people of all ages. Lou is 112 years old and Em is 93 they and everyone else on Earth have been taking a drug called anti-gerasone that stops the aging process. They regularly play the “moccasin game” (a reference to the titular saying “Don’t judge a man until you've walked two moons in his moccasins”), in which they think about other people’s perspectives.Lou Schwartz and his wife Em Schwartz stand on the balcony of their New York apartment, discussing their frustrations with Gramps. After Sal and Gramps return to Bybanks, Gramps moves in with Sal and Dad. Gramps stays in the hospital with Gram and gives Sal the car keys, knowing that Sal-whom he taught to drive on the family farm several years ago-is going to complete the drive to Lewiston. Gramps’s devotion to Gram, and his trust in Sal, becomes apparent when Gram falls ill, and in Coeur D’Alene, doctors discover that she had a stroke. But Gramps continues to pull over at every place of interest-and Sal eventually realizes that Gramps is purposefully stopping everywhere that Momma did when Momma headed west on the bus. This habit annoys Sal-and it even proves dangerous when, in the Missouri River, a poisonous water moccasin bites Gram’s leg. During their trip, Gramps often pulls off the road to see tourist attractions, nap, or cool off in nearby bodies of water. Every night when he and Gram get into bed in motels, Gramps pats the bed and says, “this ain’t our marriage bed, but it’ll do.” Sal sees their marriage bed as a symbol of her grandparents’ love and devotion to each other. When they were married, the couple received their “marriage bed.” This bed belonged to Gramps’s parents first, and Gramps was born in it in addition to all of his and Gram’s children. Gramps was smitten with Gram the moment he saw her when they were teenagers-and she agreed to marry him when he admitted that he sometimes sang to his beagle. As Sal and her grandparents drive west, Sal hears about their early relationship. This is one of the reasons why, Sal believes, Dad wants her to go on the road trip to Lewiston with them-Sal will be able to keep them in line. Over the course of their lifetime, they’ve been arrested for stealing a senator’s tires and pulled over for driving on the shoulder of the road. Sal describes her grandparents as good, kind people who nevertheless attract trouble wherever they go. Gramps is Sal’s grandfather, Dad’s father, and Gram’s husband.
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