Ola, I started writing this story two years ago for my fiction class. After numerous flase starts and extended period of writer's block I have not yet been able to complete it. But now with yall's support/critique and Pashupatinath's kirpa I am confident it will come to its rightful end and also stop tormenting me. Grandpa's Omega ---------------------- Babu came inside Grandpa's room rubbing his eyes. He walked lazily to the bed, stood still for a moment, yawned and slowly lied down. "Are you sleeping again?" asked Grandpa, pulling his cheeks sideways, looking closely for any remnants of stubble at the mirror hung on the wall. "The bamboos made too much noise on the wind. I could not sleep." Grandpa turned towards Babu and smiled. "So our young prince from Kathmandu city was disturbed by village noises, eh?" "And why don't you build a concrete house as they are in Kathmandu? These wood creak when you walk. And the rats make noises too." "That is why it is a village. Look at all the other houses here, ours is much better." "But I think not," Babu said and pulled down the red cloth covered Almanac resting on the bedside stand. "Grandpa?" "Yes." "Ask me countries and capitals." "Ok. What is the capital of England?" "That is too easy. Ask me the difficult ones." "Switzerland?" "Berne." "There, you don't know the difficult ones. It is Geneva." Babu knew that he had to show the proof when Grandpa was this certain. He flipped the pages of the Almanac and cried, "Grandpa, but look here. Berne it is." He pointed the page to Grandpa. Grandpa looked at the small boy. He knew he was wrong. But he said, " It is Geneva as long as I have known it and I am seventy-three." "But it says Berne." "They must have changed it," declared Grandpa and went back to finishing his shave. He muttered under his breath, repeating Switzerland:Berne again and again so he would remember. Babu was flipping through the pages again when his watch announced 9AM with a beep. He looked at his "blinking watch," so called because its digital dial blinked with every second. He had won it under the cap ofa coke. Since it had a red plastic band with Coca-Cola imprinted all over it, his friends at school said it was fake. So he always made a policy to verify its beep with more reliable timepieces. He jumped off the bed and snatched Grandpa's steel watch from the bedstand to check. "Wow! It's heavy. Is this your new watch, Grandpa?" "Yes it is. Your uncle Rajendra sent it from America." "I have never seen them. They don't come to Nepal any more, do they?" "They can't because they are very busy." "My dad and mom are busy too." "Yes, and your dad is my son," said Grandpa and he laughed heartily. Babu inspected the watch all over and turned it to read the inscriptions. "Swiss! It says SWISS, Grandpa!" "Swiss Omega. They are the best watchmakers in the world." "Hmm...But why did they not send you an American watch?" But then he heard Badri calling for Grandpa from the front yard. He ran out to the porch. Badri was the shed-hand. He fed the cows and lived in a one-room place beside the house. He also went to cut grass and collect firewood in the afternoons. "Babu, tell Grandpa that they are here with the bull and waiting," shouted Badri. (..........contd) mG.