MY BROTHER LEO PAWNED GRANDPA’S WATCH WITHOUT ASKING ME, AND I JUST FOUND OUT
I saw the crumpled receipt sticking out of his jacket pocket and my stomach dropped instantly. I snatched the paper, my fingers shaking slightly as I smoothed it open, the cheap thermal print blurry under the kitchen light. The address for “City Pawn & Loan” felt like a physical blow to my chest, and listed beneath was ‘Vintage Gold Watch,’ the one Grandpa wore every single day. The one he gave me.
“What is THIS, Leo?” I forced out, holding it up, my voice tight and thin. He flinched back, eyes wide, muttering something frantic about needing cash faster than I could get it to him. That watch wasn’t his to touch, ever, especially not for some vague “need.” “You promised you just needed fifty until payday for groceries,” I said, my voice rising to a dangerous pitch. “Fifty? I needed rent money, you weren’t answering!” he snapped back, his face flushed red and angry.
He looked away, avoiding my glare, and I saw the fresh, ugly scratch mark on his knuckles from where he must have slammed his fist against the wall before I got home. “How much did you get for it?” I demanded, the rough, grainy texture of the pawn slip feeling like coarse sandpaper in my trembling hand. He finally mumbled the pathetic number, barely enough to cover a week’s groceries, let alone rent, a sickening fraction of its sentimental worth.
The cheap, stale smell of cigarette smoke that always clung to his worn jacket suddenly seemed heavier, dirtier, laced with desperation and deceit. All for *this*? Not even enough for a full month’s rent, traded for something irreplaceable, something that wasn’t even his to give away. My breath hitched, cold and ragged in my throat.
He stared at the floor and then mumbled, “That wasn’t the first thing I pawned.”
👇 *Full story continued in the comments…*My head snapped up, my eyes locking onto his. “What?” The single word was sharp, disbelieving.
He shuffled his feet, unable to meet my gaze. “Just… smaller stuff. My old PS4, some tools… things I wasn’t using.”
Smaller stuff. Tools. A gaming console. My initial surge of panic for *what else* of Grandpa’s or Mom’s he might have touched subsided slightly, only to be replaced by a chilling understanding of how desperate he was, how long this had been going on. It wasn’t a one-off mistake; it was a pattern. A pattern that had now crossed a line he should never have approached.
“So you’ve been pawning your way through… whatever you can find?” My voice was low, dangerous now, stripped of the initial shock and laced with cold fury. “And you thought Grandpa’s watch was next in line? Something he *gave me*?”
He finally looked up, his eyes red-rimmed and miserable. “I know, I messed up. Badly. I just… I ran out of my own things. And I needed the money *now*.”
“Needed it for what, Leo? Rent wasn’t the first need, was it? What *else* are you not telling me?” The question hung heavy in the air, but I didn’t press him on it. Not yet. The immediate, searing pain was about the watch.
I looked down at the crumpled receipt again, my eyes scanning for details. There it was – the redemption date. A small window, barely a month away. If we didn’t get it back before then… it would be gone forever. Sold off to someone else.
A wave of nausea rolled through me. Grandpa’s watch. His familiar, comforting weight on my wrist, the faint ticking sound I remembered from childhood hugs. Traded for a pittance, sitting in some dusty pawn shop display case.
“How much did you get for it again?” I asked, though I knew the pathetic sum. He mumbled it again, the same insultingly low figure.
My mind raced. That wasn’t even enough to get it *out* of pawn. The redemption price would be higher, the original loan amount plus interest. I calculated quickly in my head. It was significantly more than what he received. Money I didn’t just have lying around either.
“We have to get it back, Leo,” I said, the anger momentarily giving way to a fierce, protective urgency. “We *have* to. It’s Grandpa’s.”
He nodded, relief flickering in his eyes before being replaced by guilt. “I know. I don’t have the money though. Not even close.”
“No kidding,” I retorted, the bitterness returning. “You pawned *my* watch for peanuts and spent it. So how exactly do you plan on getting it back?”
He shrugged helplessly, looking lost and pathetic. “I don’t know. Work extra shifts? Ask for an advance?”
I scoffed. “Extra shifts won’t cover it in time. And an advance? After this?” I ran a hand through my hair, the knot of tension in my stomach tightening. I was furious at him, the trust between us shattered into a million pieces. He had stolen, plain and simple, and pawned something irreplaceable. But it was *Grandpa’s*. I couldn’t let it go.
“Okay,” I said finally, my voice tight with the effort of controlling my rage. “This is what’s going to happen. *We* are going to get that watch back. Not you, *we*. Because you clearly can’t handle it on your own. I’ll put in what I can, and you will figure out the rest. Every spare cent you get, every possible hour you can work. You will find a way to make up the difference. And if you miss that date because you screw up again, I swear, Leo, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
He flinched but nodded, his expression grim. “Okay. I will. I promise.”
“Your promises don’t mean much to me right now,” I said coldly, my gaze steady and unforgiving. “But that watch means everything. So this isn’t about trust anymore. This is about fixing your mess and honoring Grandpa. Don’t think for a second this is forgiven, Leo. It’s not. But we’re getting the watch back. And when we do, we’re going to have a very different conversation about what the hell is going on with you.”
I folded the pawn slip carefully, the cheap paper feeling heavier than lead, and tucked it into my pocket. The stale smell of cigarette smoke still lingered, but now it was overlaid with the cold, hard resolve to reclaim what was lost, and the crushing weight of a bond irrevocably broken. Getting the watch back would be just the first step, and the hardest part – rebuilding or accepting the ruin of our relationship – still lay ahead.