The plot centers around an elderly woman(?) laying in bed and I believe she is dying. She is remembering her past and at the end as she is fading someone is one the roof tapping loose shingles into place.

I realize this isn't much to go on but . . . I read this in a periodical (Readers Digest?) perhaps 30 years ago and it has stuck with me since.

"The Leave Taking" and also "Goodbye, Grandma"

See: https://raybradburyboard.com/ev...1083901/m/5641073372
The above posts were just "a few years" ago!!

(I am quite sure I have an RD copy of this in my teaching files.)

Thank You! . . . and so quickly!

I opened the link you provided and as soon as I read that line (that I had forgotten) I knew this was it; "And the sea moved her back down the shore"

Can you recall when the story appeared in RD?

I thought of this story again when my Dad passed away in mid May of this year. Just a day before dying he was reminding me to check the bathroom floor and maybe consider changing the lino in his kitchen and think about replacing the carpet . . . .

Thank you once again,

Mihy (Canada)

mihy, after some intense "digging through," I did find my RD copy of "Good-By, Grandma." It has an illustration of "Grandma," hammer in hand, on the roof fixing loose shingles, with a ladder visible in the background leaning against the roof eve.

Before the narration begins, this prelude was offered: "This intensely moving story, by the world famous author of The Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451, and other classics, was originally published in 1957. Since then, it has often been read at memorial services, bringing solace in times of bereavement.

The date of the publication is July, 1983.

As I shuffled through my files, I also came up with these other Reader's Digest copies of "It Changed My Life" (the Mr. Electrico story) June, 1983, and "On Roller Skates in Hollywood" (RB meets countless stars as a kid, autograph book in hand) September, 1986.

Ironically, following the Mr. Electrico story is an ad for RCA videodisc players. The celebrity smiling from the page is none other than Gene Kelly. Mr. Bradbury had wished for him to be a part of a project involving the story "Black Ferris" which, unfortunately, never took shape. The concept, however, later would become the feature Disney movie Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Here is a link of "Good-By, Grandma":
http://www.angelfire.com/ultra/savvy/story4.html

mihy, Welcome to the Board! Your comment on this story touching memories of a loved-one is well understood and shared by many here at the site, I am sure. Mr. Bradbury's words have that unique power!

(*We are fifteen minutes from Canada, separated by the mighty St. Lawrence River!)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: fjp451,

Wonderful thread.

The story is also included in the Ray Bradbury compilation A CHAPBOOK FOR BURNT-OUT PRIESTS, RABBIS AND MINISTERS as "Goodbye Means God Be With You".

fjp - thanks for looking this up! So I was right about the timeline of ~30 years past. Funny how I recalled the tap-tapping of the shingling - and then attributed to someone else!

And Linnl - I will look for that volume in the used bookstores when I get home.

What started me thinking about this story (again)is that I am currently at my Dad's place in south Florida (I hail from Alberta) and I had someone in to repair the bathroom floor - ok, first task done, what's next.....

The link for "The Leaving" is the same one I found when I went searching for the story online and I was coming across other titles and thinking 'gee, maybe I should pick up a book or two...'. A couple of hours later I am found at Barnes & Noble gazing through the Bradbury offerings and pick up two paperbacks and am heading for the tills when I stop by the SALE bunks and lo and behold there is a Bradbury compendium containing The Martian Chronicles, Illustrated Man and The Golden Apples of the Sun. My, my - all this reading in a hardbound, golden edged tome for $20, how could I go wrong? Serendipity in action.
[URL=http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/barnes-noble-leatherbound-classics-the-martian-chronicles-the-illustrated-man-the-golden-apples-of-the-sun-ray-bradbury/1106658810?ean=9781435129061&itm=1&usri=bradbury+hardcover]

It will be a bit of a chore to read in bed due to the weight but at least the font size is more agreeable to my eyes than what is used in the paperbacks.

Cheerz!

January, 2014

I am back in south Florida and I still have the oversized Ray Bradbury tome at my dad's place. It isn't that it's too cumbersome to carry back on the plane...ok, a Kindle version would be easier...but
I read a couple of stories every few days and savour them. One that has remained at the forefront is "The Garbageman", kinda twigged me.

Welcome back, mihy - after a break of two years!

Thanks Phil,

What caused me to recall this posting is - wait for it - I was on my Dad's roof the other day doing some repairs and I wondered if this forum thread still existed.....