In the northern part of Austin there once lived a family by the name of Smothers. The family consisted of John Smothers, his wife, himself, their little daughter Olivia, five years of age, and her parents, making six people toward the population of the city which was very small and every person mattered.
One night after supper the little girl was seized with a severe cold, and John Smothers hurried down town to get some medicine.
He never came back.
The little girl recovered and in time grew up to be woman.
The mother was so upset over her husband's disappearance, and it was nearly three months before she married again, and moved to San Antonio.
The little girl also married since she had now become a woman, and after a few years had rolled around, she also had a little girl five years of age.
She still lived in the same house where they had been when her father had left and never returned.
One night by a remarkable coincidence her little girl was taken with cramp cold on the 15th anniversary of the disappearance of her father John Smothers, who would now have been her grandfather if he had been alive and had a steady job.
"I will go downtown and get some medicine for her," said Daniel Rockabado, her husband.
"No, no, dear John," cried his wife. "You, too, might disappear forever, and then forget to come back."
So Daniel did not go, and together they sat by the bedside of their young daughter Lily.
After a little Lily seemed to grow worse, and Daniel again attempted to go for medicine, but his wife would not let him.
Suddenly the door opened, and an old man, stooped and bent, with long white hair, entered the room.
"Hello, here is grandpa," said Lily. She had recognized him before anybody else.
The old man got a bottle of medicine from his pocket and gave Lily a spoonful.
She got well immediately.
"I was a little late," said John Smothers, "as I waited in he long line”
“Did you think I’d never come back?” he said with a slight grin on his face.
Olivia says with a frown, “I wasn’t too sure, Took you a while”.