“Hey, Abe! Get back here. You’ll trample those shamrocks!”
Grandpa’s voice boomed like a tom-tom drum that screamed alert when I ran towards his favorite spot in the garden. It was a small portion that housed a cluster of what I see as grass—that was what I thought until he yelled at me. It was so special that he even built fences, which he painted green, around it. He even had two concrete, green garden gnomes guard the area.
“Sorry,” I said as I stopped a few steps away from the enclosures. 'Not sorry,' I said to myself.
And as I was about to take another step, with a mischievous plan in mind—to still step on the shamrocks—a wrinkly hand grabbed my shoulders.
“Don’t you dare.”
I looked behind me and saw grandpa, holding his rattan cane. His eyes were white with no pupils, just sclera! I froze as volts of icy waves traveled all over my body. I looked at the balcony where he stood seconds ago, and my jaws dropped.
‘How did he get here so fast? I didn’t even hear him approach me?’
The balcony was five to six meters away from where I stood, and grandpa walked with a limp, not to mention he was slow because he was already in his seventies.
I blinked and his eyes were back to normal.
“I know what you’re thinking seconds ago, boy.” He simpered. “You plan on stomping on my little garden. And you were thinking how I got here so fast.”
I was even appalled. ‘How did he know?’
“Now, you’re asking yourself how did I know? Common kid. I’ll tell you a secret.”
We walked back to the house, straight to his room. I sat on the couch across his bed while he rummaged something in his drawers.
At first, his face was distorted to a grimace, but when he found the object and pulled it out, his face brightened up as iridescent as the glowing pot of gold.
Wait! What?!
“Is that a pot of gold?” I asked grandpa. Though I was still blinded by the sparkling treasure, I could still see that the pot was oozing with gold coins. And by oozing I meant literally!
The coins kept pouring out, clinking on the white tiles, but the pot never ran out.
“Where did you get that?”
“Oh! That’s another secret I’ll tell if you’ll behave like such a good boy.”
I had always been a kid; a pain in my parent's and elders’ necks. I never fail to bully my siblings and other children at school, but that time… that moment I looked at grandpa’s eyes, I felt something strange. The inner mischievous child inside of me suddenly calmed down. No matter how I tried to respond in a disobedient manner, a sort of enchantment restrained it.
I couldn’t help it. I nodded enthusiastically just to hear the secret.
“Slow down. Your head might fall off.”
Grandpa smiled and put the pot back into the drawer. I ran towards it and threw it open, but I saw nothing but an empty hollow space.
“Where did it go?”
“It’s only visible to the eyes of the owner.”
I pouted. “No fun. You’re not cool grandpa.”
He laughed his heart out.
“I don’t need to be cool. To be who I am now, I needed to be perseverant and resilient. Ever wonder why we live in this palace-like house?”
I walked away from the drawer and sat back on the couch so that we were talking face to face.
“Why?” I asked, pouting.
“It’s because we don’t run out of riches. That pot is our source of wealth. And it can never be stolen by anyone. Your father has it too.”
“How?”
“I sent him on a journey to find his own pot. You should do it too.”
“But I’m only five.”
“The earlier you start… the better pot of gold you’ll have.”
“How about those shamrocks outside?”
“Ah… those are from my friend, Patrick. He told me I should guard it with my life. Those are my lucky charms.”
“Are they like four-leaf clovers?”
He laughed. “No. They aren’t like four-leaf clovers.” He looked at me straight in the eyes. “Because all of those shamrocks have four leaves that symbolized faith, love, hope, and luck.”
I spent the night in grandpa’s room. For some reason, I was enthralled to stay and listen to his journey in acquiring his pot of gold. He promised he would tell me how his journey started. He would tell me where to get started.
“When I was your age, I was as mischievous as you. I was so mean that I did all sorts of malicious things to every kid in the neighborhood. But then one day—”
Grandpa’s story was cut by a knock on the door.
“Dad? Is Abe with you? It’s past his bedtime.”
It was mom.
“Sure, honey,” Grandpa answered. He looked at me and smiled.
“Looks like you have to go to bed now.”
“But can I stay here? I want to hear your story.”
“Tomorrow, young man. There’s always tomorrow.”
As mischievous as I always had been, I sneaked out of my room late at night when my parents hit the hay.
I couldn't wait until the following day to get to unravel what Grandpa had been hiding.
With my favorite leprechaun socks on, I tiptoed down the corridor to Grandpa's room. As I was getting closer to his domain, I heard a shrill voice laughing.
"Bricks and mortar make a house, but the laughter of children makes a home."
The voice laughed when Grandpa said it.
I froze. I mean, I didn't. I was frozen, literally! The floor dissolved and waved like the flowing water in a river, only that it was cold. As I took one step after another, the path hardened and turn into an ice floor, the one we could see in an ice skating arena. If it was called such.
'Who is Grandpa with? Why am I immobilized?'
"You should teach your grandson a lesson like how you taught his father," the voice said. It was so tiny, I could attest it was from someone wee as well.
'Why would I be punished? I didn't do anything wrong,' I told myself.
"Are you saying sneaking out isn't wrong? How about eavesdropping?"
The icy sensation had turned my feet numb, but my knees shook when, once again, I saw grandpa's tall shadow standing behind me! For the second time, I didn’t see him come out of his room, that was right in front of me.
“Oh! I like his socks! It’s me! It’s me!”
The owner of the shrill voice rejoiced, pointing at my socks, when he came to sight. He was just like Grandpa: old and wrinkly but with a long beard dropping to the floor. My grandpa was bald. He wore a leather apron and a pointed hat, and clad in green, from head to toes. His pointy ears matched his pointed buckled shoes. He was as tall as me and even looked as impish as me.
He was standing by grandpa’s door, a few meters aways from me—we knew how everything could look so big or far something was for a child my age, right? It was far, even if it was near. I was sure he stood that far, but, just like Grandpa, the leprechaun came face to face with me in a matter of seconds!
“Do you like me?” he asked. He puffed some smoke from his pipe.
“No. Why would I like you? You’re hideous and small, but old?”
His wizened face became even more crinkly when it distorted in anger.
“Insolent child! You’ll never find your pot of gold! You’ll always ran out of luck!”
“Hey! Is that a curse? Take it back!” I looked at Grandpa; my eyes screamed, help! But he only looked at me with somber eyes.
“I’m sorry, Abe. My friend’s words are final. It cannot be undone.”
“What?! Are you friend with that thing?”
“Hey! Watch your mouth! I’m a living being, not a thing!” He looked at Grandpa with disappointment in his eyes. “Are you sure he’s your grandson? His father was way too gentle and kind. Is this what you always wanted, ‘Bricks and mortar make a house, but the laughter of children makes a home?’ Are you even proud that you became human?”
“Grandpa, what is he talking about?”
He didn’t respond. He only looked away from me and at the leprechaun.
“Grandpa? What is this leppy talking about?”
“What?! Now, you’re giving me a feeble name? Lenux, say something. I’m being insulted again!” the leprechaun demanded. His face was already red… his ears and nose fumed with green smoke.
Grandpa stooped down to my level and placed both his hands on my shoulders.
“Abe, please stop being disparaging. Be respectful.”
“Oh, come on, Lenux, say it!” the leprechaun said. "I told you kids are a pain in the neck."
Grandpa filled in his lungs with air, which was no longer foggy.
“I used to be a leprechaun, Abe. One day, when I was your age, I stumbled upon a rare gold, four-leaf shamrock and gave it to our queen. In return, she granted me my wish to become a human because I love to be surrounded by children.”
Images edited in Canva