The Family Heirloom

The heirloom was presented to the new owner with great ceremony and loud applause and even a little shouting. The crowd was very much engaged in following a long-standing family tradition. When the one who had possessed the much revered heirloom decided, “It is time for a transfer” (which were the actual words spoken at the beginning of the ceremony), the object would be passed down to the oldest grandchild, be it a him or her, at a formal family gathering. The act of handing it over would be photographed, the decided-upon best picture would be placed in the family photo album, with the others that had preceded it. The picture taking was almost as old as photography itself. The ceremony however, and of course the object, were much older than that. It went back centuries.

Grandfather Jake had decided at the relatively young age of 73, that “It is time for a transfer,” meaning that he would be giving the heirloom to grandchild Maria who was only 13 years old. It was one of the youngest ages ever for the one receiving the revered object.  She looked kind of stunned as it was handed to her, as she had no idea what she would do with it. And she wasn’t sure that she liked so many people taking pictures of her. She was shy, and tended to avoid attention being directed her way.

For a few seconds, Maria stared at the object, admiring the blue squares with gold outlines that circled around it. She noticed that one of those squares had what looked like a kind of handle close to the bottom. She wondered whether that meant that she could open it up, and discover a treasure of some kind inside. She planned to investigate that possibility further when she got home, and went to her room with it, so no one was watching her. 

Some family members wondered why Grandfather Jake gave up the family heirloom at a time of his life when he still appeared to be reasonably strong and healthy for his age. Usually grandparents would only transfer the heirloom when they were almost literally ‘at death’s door’. They didn’t want to ask him just in case about that lest he confirm the worst of their worries. He had always been a somewhat peculiar man, but he was a successful writer of novels, short stories and poems. They figured that peculiar just went with being such a creative person.  It was said in family lore that his grandfather, the one who had given him the heirloom was a little strange too, but a gifted carver, whose works were placed in locations of honour in several galleries in town. There was also a rumour that Grandfather Jake might be working on the story of the heirloom, his first work of non-fiction. Would he not want to keep the object if that was what he was planning to do? They certainly did not understand what was going on in his mind when he made the fateful decision.

Just a little after the ceremony ended, and people were starting to leave, Grandfather Jake walked over to Maria, and handed her an envelope. In a voice almost too quiet for her to hear, he told her that she was to open it up only when she got home, and only when there was no one to see her do the opening. The contents were a secret she could only share with the person that she herself transferred to the next person in the transfer line. That is what his grandmother told him.

Grandfather Jake’s Thoughts

After everyone had left, Grandfather Jake was alone with his thoughts. ‘I really hated to give up the heirloom, or Stella, as I called her as she took me to the stars. But Maria really needs to have Stella with her now. At 13, she is at a potential turning point in her life. She needs to see what she can do with it. She shouldn’t just remain being little more than a ‘whatever’ girl. I am reasonably confident now that there will be a change for Maria. Stella will do the trick, as she did for me.

Maria Is Alone with the Heirloom

Maria is alone now with the heirloom, sitting in her bedroom. She is staring at it with some intensity, wondering what secrets lie in this newly-acquired object. Uncertainty and her were constant companions these days. She was not the confident little girl she had been before she had reached her teens.

She opened up the envelope. On a folded paper contained within it was handwritten in dark but slightly faded ink a message that briefly outlined the early history of the heirloom. The first owner of the piece, perhaps the one who had made it, was an old woman who, in the late seventeenth century had been declared a witch, and had given the object to her eldest grandchild before she was burned at the stake.  After that instructions for the use of the heirloom were presented.

Both the origin story and the instructions intrigued Maria. Concerning the latter, she was to go outside on the night of a full moon, hold the object in front of her, facing the moon. She was then to open up the square that bore the handle, and look directly inside. Then she would begin to learn of the power of the object.

The Night of the Full Moon

Fortunately for Maria and her daily growing impatience, the next night of the full moon was only a week and a half away. And the sky was clear that night, another condition outlined in the instructions.

Maria pulled up the handle and stared deeply inside. What she saw were pictures, amazing pictures that were first drawn with pencil outlines, then filled out in brilliant colours. She only had to question for a short time why she was seeing this. She came to realize, she really did not know how, that these were pictures that she was going to draw in her future. She was going to be an artist. She already liked drawing, but she hadn’t done much with it. It was just play to her. The pictures had revealed to her that art was a gift she had been given but hadn’t really realized before.  Then she thought, ‘Maybe Grandfather Jack saw stories when he had looked into the heirloom.’  She would have to ask him.