Chapter 311 Old Man Nolan’s Birthday
However, all of them had neglected the fact that money no longer mattered much for a man at such an advanced age like his grandfather, and that how precious North’s gift was for him.
Feeling a lump in his throat, Eugene reached out to caress the boy’s head. “Why don’t you play one for your Great-Grandpa now?”
In response to Eugene’s suggestion, North spun around to face Old Man Nolan. “Great-grandpa, would you like to listen to it?”
Old Man Nolan nodded vigorously with his eyes brimming with joy and affection. Out of all his children and grandchildren which made up nearly a hundred people, none of them was able to make him this happy.
While North was teaching the old man how to use the recording pen, he pressed the ‘play’ button and soon, his crisp and clear voice came from the speaker: ‘Great-grandpa, here’s a compilation of jokes for you and today, I’m going to tell you one of them! One day, Mason’s teacher was annoyed because he was restless and had not been paying attention to the class. So, the teacher scolded him angrily, “Mason, I’m not pleased to see you moving around like this. If you don’t sit still and focus during the class, I’ll tell your father about this.” Then, Mason retorted with a frown on his head, “Sir, I’m not happy about you either but I’ve never wanted to tell your father about this. Since both of us are guys, we should settle this between ourselves. It’s really unmanly of you to tell my father about this behind my back!’
As soon as the recording ended, there was a smile on everyone’s face not because the joke was great, but mostly because the little boy looked hilarious as he alternated between Mason’s role and the teacher’s role.
Grabbing North’s shoulder, Old Man Nolan exclaimed somewhat emotionally, “You’re a good boy, North, and I love your gift very much.”
Giggling, North pressed the button to pause the recording before handing it back to Old Man Nolan. “Great-grandpa, there are a lot more other jokes stored inside. Once you finish everything, I will record more for you.”
The moment Old Man Nolan took the pen, he could feel his heart fill up with warmth all of a sudden. He held the boy’s hands affectionately and gazed at the little boy endearingly.
“Great-grandpa, Mommy has prepared something for you too.” With that, North gave Olivia a nudge toward the old man.
Staring at the little boy, Olivia complained, “My gift has been overshadowed by yours.”
Then, North edged closer to the old man and whispered next to his ears, “Great-grandpa, you may secretly love my gift but on the outside, you have to pretend you love Mommy’s gift too. Otherwise, she will be unhappy because she has spent many days choosing the gift!”
Old Man Nolan went along with his plan by nodding solemnly and showed him an OK gesture.
Olivia went speechless when she saw that.
Smiling with resignation, she took a step forward and opened the box she was carrying in her arms. From the inside of the box, she took out a photo frame which she handed to Old Man Nolan.
“Grandpa, I hope this isn’t too shabby for you and I wish you longevity and health!”
While Old Man Nolan took over the photo frame with a look of utter surprise, everyone else too inched closer trying to take a look at it.
Feeling disturbed to see their gifts which were worth several hundred thousands or even millions pale in comparison to the little boy’s recording pen, they were curious to see what Olivia had prepared for the old man.
There was a man and a woman in the photo. The man was wearing the same suit Old Man Nolan was wearing now whereas the woman, who had a graceful demeanor and a gentle expression, was wearing a dress with a phoenix embroidered on her shoulder. Obviously, they were wearing matching outfits.
After a moment of confusion, everyone examined the photo more closely and found that it was a photo of Old Man Nolan and his wife in their younger days.
Olivia had actually gifted him a photo of him and his wife.
Then, all of them looked frustrated with themselves for failing to come up with a similar idea.
As for Old Man Nolan, he was staring at the photo with his head held low and touching his wife in the photo with his wrinkled hand. Looking so pleased as though his lifetime dream was finally fulfilled, a drop of tear trickled down his face all of a sudden.
