A boy went to visit his grandfather that lived deep in the mountains... [long]

He hadn't seen his grandfather in quite some time, not since his grandmother's funeral a few years back at least. So, deciding that it would do their son well to visit the old man for the summer, his parents packed him up and sent him to go stay with the old man for the summer.


So, upon his arrival, the boy found his grandfather and a very large, old dog sitting on the front porch attached to a completely ancient and rickety cabin, which he was later told by his relative that it had no running water, electricity, or air conditioning and that he should 'get used to roughin it'. The old man ushered the boy inside, saying that there was dinner already cooking for him on the stove; the dog following close behind. The boy looked around, and finally he sat down to eat with his grandfather, using the dinner plates left behind by his late grandmother.


The boy noticed that there were a few smudges and flecks of food still on the plate, but decided to say nothing about it and just continued to eat.


The same thing happened the next day, however the food he had eaten yesterday now resided upon the plate. "Grandpa?" he asked hesitantly, looking up to the old man. "I don't think this is very clean..." The old man shrugged.

"Well it's the best Cold Water can do, boy." Deciding that this was true, he said nothing, and continued to eat.

The *next* night, and every night after, the same thing happened, only with the previous night's meal still half-way caked onto the plate. The boy occasionally decided to speak up, and said, "Grandpa the plate isn't clean." And, again, the old man would have just shrugged and said,

"It's the best Cold Water can do boy." The boy would then huff with a bit of annoyance, and after a while of this going back and forth, he just decided that he shouldn't speak of it again if this was going to be his answer every time.

One night, after dinner, the boy, his grandfather, and the dog all sat on the front porch enjoying the fireflies and the sounds of nature when the dog picked up the scent of a squirrel. Being the old hunting dog it was, he began to bark, and bark and bark and bark until the old man had enough of it and yelled,

"Cold Water! Be quiet!"