Twenty minutes later, all that changed. Grandmother walked by the bathroom and noticed a torrent of water streaming out from under the door.

She shrieked twice—first in astonishment, then in rage. She flung open the bathroom door and saw that the sink and tub were plugged up and that the faucets were going at full blast.

Everyone knew who the culprit was. The guests quickly formed a protective barricade around me, but Grandmother was so furious that she almost got to me anyway, flailing her arms as if trying to swim over the crowd.

Several strong men eventually moved her away and calmed her down, although she sputtered and fumed for quite a while.

My grandfather took me by the hand and sat me on his lap in a chair near the window. He was a kind and gentle man, full of wisdom and patience. Rarely did he raise his voice to anyone, and never did he argue with his wife or defy her wishes.

He looked at me with much curiosity, not at all angry or upset. "Tell me," he asked, "why did you do it?"

"Well, she yelled at me for nothing," I said earnestly. "Now she’’s got something to yell about."

Grandfather didn’’t speak right away. He just sat there, looking at me and smiling.

"Eric," he said at last, "you are my revenge."

可二十分鐘之后，一切全都變了。當祖母從洗手間走過的時候，她發現有股水流從門縫里涌出來。

她先是驚異地叫了一聲，很快又憤怒地尖叫起來。她猛力地撞開洗手間的門，發現洗手盆和浴缸都被塞子塞住了，水龍頭被擰到最大，水正嘩啦啦地直流。

每個人都知道是誰搞的鬼，客人們馬上在我周圍形成了一堵人墻保護我。憤怒的祖母使勁地揮舞著雙手，樣子就像在人堆里游泳一樣。好幾次她差點夠著我。

最后幾個魁梧的男人才把祖母制住，把她拉開讓她冷靜下來，但她還是氣急敗壞地嚷了好一陣子。

祖父這時走了過來，牽著我的手到靠窗的一張椅子上坐下，還把我抱到他的膝蓋上坐。祖父的性格好，脾氣也特別好。他很少提高嗓門和別人說話，也從來沒有和祖母吵架，也從來沒有違背過祖母的意愿。

他很好奇地打量著我，沒有半點生氣或煩惱的樣子，“告訴我，”他說，“你為什么要這樣做呢?”

“是這樣的，她先無緣無故地罵了我一頓，”我認真地說，“這回她罵我就有理由了!”

祖父沒有馬上說話，他只是坐在那兒，笑瞇瞇地看著我。

最后他終于開口說：“艾里克，我的乖孫子，你總算替爺爺出了口氣!”