Grandma's Secret Friend

My grandma was furious with grandpa. Without her knowledge, he had made a deal with some old realtor, whose business was not doing well. Grandpa was just trying to be nice and helpful with his old friend, as grandpa usually is, but this was not going well with grandma, who is always practical, and always thinks about the welfare of her children, before she does anything as substantial as this. But, in any case, the deal was not so bad, and at the end grandma agreed to purchase the old house and move into it. The house was old and needed lots of repair. For weeks and weeks my grandparents worked on it. Sometimes my mom and dad, and my uncle, helped them, and sometimes me, and my siblings, did some things, but it was as if the work would never end.  

The problem with the old houses is that you will find something, and you think it is subject to antiques and values. So it takes some time to go to your computer and google it to find out that the object was made in china, and was purchased only a few years before the house was purchased, and has no value, at all! And, off course, everybody would sit around, play with their soft drinks, and in grandma’s case, tea, and would talk about various things, regarding antiques!

I have to introduce my grandma to you.

She was born in the Middle east, and educated in India. In her youth, she was a model for magazines in India. She still is displaying her pictures from the old times, on the mantle, next to the pictures of my dad, and my uncle. She still has her own accent from her home, and some stranger accent from India. She is a courageous person, and proof of it is that she came to this country all by herself, and went to school, until she met my grandpa, and they got married. She does take care of herself and grandpa, and she tried to take care of her children, too, but now that they all are grown up, and have their own carriers, they try to excuse her of her responsibilities toward them. What amazes me is that grandma is afraid of basements. In her old house, she never visited the basement, although it was a very spacious and nice one, and we always played there with our siblings. She also is very afraid of the dark places, and if the light is out, she calls electric companies all day and night long to see when the power is coming back. Her drawers are filled with candles and matches, and it seems to me that she is waiting for the eternal darkness, so that she can light up some of her candles. Other than that, she is alright.

After the new house was almost finished with the remodeling and all, we didn’t go back to the house for a while. The school was back on schedule, and my siblings and I had no time for grandparents. While the weekend was the only time we could visit them, it would not give us enough time to chat with them as much as before. My grandpa always had something for my dad to do for him, and grandma always was busy preparing meals, so that we won't be hungry forever!

It was almost mid-winter, six months after they had moved into their new house, that we heard from grandpa. He was complaining about grandma. Apparently, grandma was spending too much of her time in the basement. But a few times, when grandpa had gone down, and tried to surprise grandma, he had not found her there. While grandma’s car was in the garage, grandpa was wondering where she was! He even followed her to the basement, but then again, she had vanished, as if she was a ghost. I think that was something which had caused grandpa to get too nervous, and had called my mom and my dad, and somehow had involved my uncle. So; that was the reason that one day, my parents and I, went to my grandparent’s house. As usual, grandpa was itchy and upset. 

Seemingly, grandma had an affair with the basement!

I started to laugh, and my dad and my uncle smiled, their signature smiles. But my mom was confused. Was it a pattern that she should be worried by marrying my dad, so one day he would betray my mom with the basement of all the other creatures?

It was a school holiday, and I would not have to go to school for two weeks, so I asked my parents to let me stay with grandma for a few days, a few days which stays with me forever.

That night, after grandpa went to bed, grandma said her goodnight to me, and tried to tuck me in the bed, but I told her that I was not tired, and I wanted to see the finished basement, after it was remodeled. At first, grandma was not happy, but then, she agreed for me to go downstairs, see what had come of it, and quickly go back to bed. I could see that there was something in the basement which grandma didn’t want me to see, so I told her so. She started to laugh.

“Don’t be absurd! There is nothing special in the basement!” She said

“Then, let me go with you, show me what is so important in the basement that makes you stay down here and grandpa stay upset!” I said. 

At last, after lots of convincing in my part, she agreed.

The basement was spooky. Grandma lit a candle, and put it in the holder, and carried it In front of me. She didn’t let me to turn on the light switch, because that would be risky! 

“Grandma! Aren’t you afraid of the dark?” I said.

“Yes; but in here, I can not turn on the light, or our friend will be offended.” Grandma said.

"Who is our friend?" I asked.

"You'll see." Grandma replied.

Grandma walked in front of me, and I could not see what she was doing, or where she was going, but then, she stopped. She grabbed my hand, and told me to not be afraid. There was something for her to do, so we were able to see her secret. Then she gave the candle holder, and turned to the wall. She played with a broken break on the wall, and then she grabbed my elbow, and stepped back. In a few seconds, the break wall moved. Right there, In front of our face was a beautifully furnished bedroom. I thought I saw a faint movement of somebody.

I was scared, but grandma told me there was nothing to be scared of.

What if we go there, and the door closes on us, and we cannot come back? I thought. But then, hadn't grandma had spent endless nights there, to the point that grandpa had been suspicious of her.

I followed my grandma inside the bedroom. We left the candle holder out of the room, but grandma left the door open, so that if we wanted to, we could leave the room without worrying about being trapped. Then she introduced me to somebody whom I was not able to see in the dark. When my eyes adjusted to the dark, I saw a faint shape of a woman, and slowly the shape became more solid. Was I seeing a ghost?

Then my grandma told me that the ghost was a friend of hers from the past. Her name was Ophelia. She was five hundred years old, and once she had passed the land which now my grandparents were living in, built in that land. The woman had lost her precious brooch in that land, and that was the reason, she had come back to find it, except that now there was a house built there, and she had a hard time to look for the brooch. Evidently my grandma was helping her.

I did not say anything to grandpa, and I didn’t blame grandma for keeping the secret, but I tried to find the brooch. We found it sometime later. It was a beautiful brooch, with a picture of a young woman in it. I assumed that it was the picture of the woman I had seen in my grandma’ basement. When my grandmother had offered the brooch to her, Ophelia had looked at it, and then she had given it back to my grandma. 

“You can give it to your granddaughter, who found it for me! I hope she likes it, and thinks of me fondly!”

I never told my parents about it. After all it was a precious secret between myself and my grandmother. And we never hear of grandpa complaining about my grandma’s affair with the basement.