Through my grandmother's eyes.

I am sitting in the front row of the church, my grandmother Wanda’s coffin straight in front of me. She is the first person close to me that has died. I am 14, named Dorothy after a great aunt, and had hoped that she would be around for many years to come. I was raised a school, all I have to do is conjure up one of her stories, like the one of her grandmother seeing through someone else’s eyes, and my mind is taken away to another place, one that fascinates me much more than the classroom does.

Mom often said of her mother-in-law, “The old lady is crazy, and spouts nothing but utter nonsense with those stories of hers.” She would say that. She is a lawyer, and unlikely to believe anything not proven in court. Personally I think that not all her stories are imagined, but I would not say that in front of my mother. Dad was close to his mother, and I think that he likes the stories as much as I do , but wouldn’t contradict mom no matter what he thought. She rules.

I’m thinking now of the story grandmother Wanda would tell of her grandmother, Endora, of how she had ‘powers’, and how the people in her small conservative village said that she was a ‘witch’; that she could ‘read minds’. She was shunned because of it.

The funeral ceremony was short. Only a few friends of hers were there. When the reverend asked if there were anyone who wanted to say a few words about Wanda Scott. there was an initial silence. I thought my father would get up, as he was her only child. But no. 

So I decided to stand up, and take the few short steps to the pulpit. I got a look from my mother, but I turned my eyes away from her. I kept to the reverend’s advice of “a few words”, but I was able to say what I wanted to say. I kept my head down as I walked back to where I had been sitting.

Saturday Night

It is Saturday night, so it’s date night. That is it’s not date night for me, but for my parents. There is romance still in their lives. Their first date involved a walk in the park on a Saturday night, and a first kiss. So now, whenever they can, they go for walk in that same park beside the lake. It’s only about ten minutes’ walk away I suppose they kiss too, but I don’t want to picture it.

For me it’s ‘I get to watch what I want to on our big screen television night.’ I think that I’ll try “A Quiet Place”. Some of my friends like it, others say that it is just a series of one scary scene after another and no real, with typical monsters, making typical Paramount monster sounds. But I like Emily Blunt, so I will give it a try.

I sit down with a big bowl of chocolate ice cream in front of me and turn on the television. It is taking me a while to get into the movie. I imagine watching it with my grandmother, the funny comments she would definitely make, especially about the monsters. Something like, “Just throw a big ball of wax into their ears. Then they would be no threat at all.” It’s funny how I can think like her.

The Screen Goes Blank

Then the screen goes completely blank for a few seconds. I thought ‘oh great. Just when dad or mom isn’t here to fix it’. Then colours appear and sort themselves into images. It is the park where my parents are. I feel like I am seeing it through someone else’s eyes. Then what is a small blurry image behind one of the washrooms, becomes large and clear. There are two men hiding. One of them is holding a baseball bat, the other a fairly large knife.

What can I do? I can’t call them on their cell phones. They never carry them into the park on date night. They say they didn’t have them on their first date, so they shouldn’t have them now. Typical!

I can’t call the cops. For one, they wouldn’t believe how I knew what I know. For another, the police station is on the other side of town, too far to get to my parents in time to rescue them.

The way I see it, I only have one choice. And it will reveal a secret my parents know nothing about. I have learned to drive. When Barry and I were older boyfriend and younger girlfriend, he let me practice a few times with his car, before he lost patience with me after a near accident. It was the other driver's fault. My parents were glad when we broke up. I don’t know how many times mom said, “You’ll get pregnant.”

I go grab the car keys on the hook, and run outside to the car. I stop, realizing that I will need a weapon. The idea came fast. I went into the garage, picked it up, and brought it into the car. Then I start it up, and speed down the road to the park.

Narrator

So Dorothy sped into the park, saw her parents handing over their wallet and purse to the thieves, turned the car headlights off and came up behind the crooks. Then with the hockey stick she used when she played on the local girls rep team, she whacked the two of them in the back of the head, knocking them down and out. She then handed her cell phone and her hockey stick over to her dad. He called the police, and told them about an ‘attempted robbery’ that went sour when he clouted the two would be thieves over the back of the head. They bought the story, arrived about 20 minutes later, and hand-cuffed the now barely conscious crooks.

Dorothy Resumes the Story

           After the police left, I knew I had to tell my story. The easiest part was explaining how I had learned to drive. The difficult part was explaining how I knew what was going on in the park. I knew that the truth would be hard for them to swallow, but there was no lie I could make up to do the explaining.

           I began by saying, “You know how grandma Wanda used to talk about how her grandma Endora used to be able to see with someone else’s eyes? I think that she could do that as well, and I realize now that I can see through my grandmother’s eyes.”