Gramp

It's tough to see into minds when you're only a child—and tougher still when you see what scares you!
Why is Gramma making mad pictures at you? I asked Gramp.
Gramp looked at me. What pictures, Chum?
Pictures in her mind like you're lazy. And like she wanted to hurt you, I said.
Gramp's eyes got wide. He kept looking at me, and then he said, Get your cap, Chum. We're gonna take a little walk.
Gramp didn't say anything until we walked all the way to the main road and past Mr. Watchorn's corn field. I walked behind him, counting the little round holes his wooden leg made in the gravel. Finally Gramp said, Abracadabra.
That was our secret word. It meant that if I was playing one of our games, I was to stop for awhile. Gramp and I had lots of games we played. One of them was where we made believe. Sometimes we'd play that Gramp and I had been working all day, when we really just stayed in the shade telling stories. Then when we got home and Gramma asked us what we had done, we'd tell her about how hard we had worked.
I really did see mad pictures in Gramma's mind, I said.
Have you ever seen pictures in anybody's mind before? Gramp asked.
I always see them, I said. Don't you?
No, Gramp said after a minute. Other people can't either. You're probably the only little boy who can.
Is that bad?