At last ‘A life’
By Julie D Cole
Chapter 26 Family History Lesson

Gran looked at me and said ‘Christopher?’ Is this Chris?’

‘Why are you here dressed like this. What happened? You do look like a girl now. You look like your sister. But I thought you were Judith’

‘Goodness Jennifer it is Judith, isn’t it?’ ‘What an earth has happened to bring her back’ ‘Oh Chris Oh Judith’ she hugged us and tears fell again down her face but then her mouth turned to a weak smile. ‘Oh Chris you look beautiful and I can’t get over how much you look like Judith.’

We stood up carefully and helped Gran to her chair. It was a straight sit up armchair to help her back and so I could sit on the arm whilst she held my hand.

Mum said ‘Who would like some tea?’ She went through to the kitchen to boil the kettle and warm the pot that she insisted upon. Gran smiled and squeezed my hand. In all my life she’d never smiled like this at me. Both Julie and I felt that Gran was cold towards us unlike Granny Taylor who had looked after us a lot as we grew up.

Mum would never tell us why except that Granny Rylance was very sad and one day her smile would return.

Gran asked me to bring over her table and her memory book to look at it together.
We waited for mum to bring the tea and digestive biscuits and I brought the table with the memory book in front of Gran so that she could turn the pages whilst we looked over her shoulder.

Inside the front cover was written ‘In memory of my darling daughter Judith tragically taken from us never to be replaced’. Just signed ‘Mum’.

As Gran turned the pages she would stop occasionally and relive a memory starting with a photo of her with Aunt Judith as a new baby and then after a few pages of her growing up as a small girl with mum as a baby. There were lots of photos of Aunt Judith growing up and some included mum. They looked alike but Aunt Judith always seemed to be laughing and playing the fool. Then as Gran turned the pages towards Aunt Judiths college graduation I saw the resemblance that mum and Gran had described.

It was like looking in a mirror and as the photos showed Aunt Judith relaxing and dressed for her first job I saw how alike we were especially facially but in almost all our features. Gran just looked at me and stopped turning the pages. ‘Judith came back to me!’ Oh Chris you do look lovely.’ Mum stood up and asked if she could take a photo of Gran and I using my mobile phone. I said’ Let me freshen up first and she laughed.

We drank our tea and Gran hardly let go of my hand.

Then Julie rang and said she would be arriving in 30 minutes to pick us up and she asked if everything was OK. I told her we’d had a nice time and to come in to say Hi to Gran when she arrived. Then Gran asked if I’d come back and spend a day with her since she’d like to show me some more memories of Aunt Judith. Mum intervened and said we’d come back the following week since I was away for the weekend and I said that I’d take a half day holiday if I could.

When Julie arrived she came in and Gary came with her so she introduced him to Gran. He stayed in the doorway and then said he had to go outside to the car which meant he went for a smoke. It was obvious he gave us time together and. Gran said she was pleased to see us both and then gave Julie a big cuddle and said her boyfriend looked nice.

She said that she looked lovely so Julie was a bit taken aback but smiled and was very happy to be welcomed like this. I told her we’d been looking at the memory book so Gran insisted to show her quickly turning the pages until Julie saw what we’d all seen and turned and said ‘You are like two peas in a pod’.

Then Gran said to mum that she wanted us all to go upstairs if we had time and mum nodded. I think that she knew what was coming.

Gran struggled a bit to climb the stairs with mum helping her. Julie and I followed behind wondering what was there to see. We were never allowed out of the living room when we were young except to use the downstairs bathroom. It was a three bedroom house and she turned to the left to unlock one of the bedroom doors.

‘This is Judiths room, your mums is next door.’ Mum looked at us and smiled. It was like she still lived at home as far as Gran was concerned.

As we entered the room behind Gran the room was obviously that of a young woman decorated in a very feminine style with posters hanging and several photos of Aunt Judith, mum and dad and lots of friends and also of Aunt Judith in her cap and gown.

There was a picture of a young baby on the wall but it was hard to tell who it was.
The bed was strewn with cuddly toys and a dressing gown was folded neatly on the bed with some slippers neatly placed on a small sheepskin rug by the side of the bed. It was like Aunt Judith had popped out and was due to return. Over the bed was a large oil painting of Aunt Judith as a teenage girl, probably done in her mid teens. She had short fair hair in a style that was more boyish than feminine but she looked beautiful.

On the table was a school photo with mum and Aunt Judith together. There was a rack of shoes in the corner of various colours and styles.

Gran said ‘This is my memory room of Judith where I often come to talk to her.’ It was nice but a little sad to see Gran clinging to her memories like this. She opened a jewelry box on the dressing table and took out an engagement ring that was white gold with a small stone and a silver necklace with a cross.

She turned to me and said ‘Chris will you take these as a memory of Judith and wear them just for me since you look so much like her’

Julie lifted her euebrows and nodded to me and I stepped forward.The ring fitted the third finger of my hand and looked beautiful but I wasn’t sure if I should transfer it to my right hand or not. Mum said to leave it where it was that I assumed was so that Gran would be happy. Julie helped me to remove a necklace I was wearing and replace it with the cross and chain. Gran smiled and said she hoped that I would think of Aunt Judith each time I wore it and would say a prayer for her each day.

Poor Julie got nothing and I don’t think Gran saw the look of disappointment on her face. But fortunately mum seemed to get the message across to Gran who then took a silver bracelet from the jewelry box as a gift for her..

It was time to go so we went downstairs and gathered our coats and belongings as mum tidied away. Gran escorted Julie and I arm in arm to the front door and then mum fussed to ensure that she went back inside but she stayed and waved as we set off home. Gary was driving so not much was said except that it was nice to see Gran smiling.

As we arrived home we found Sally in the kitchen. She was laying the table in the dining room and had found the wine glasses and the napkins that mum always hid away. She smiled and asked if the evening was successful and mum jumped in first and just said ‘It was my dream come true to see mum smiling and showing her affection for Chris and Julie.
Sally smiled and blew me a kiss.

Julie and Sally had decided that we would have a Chinese takeaway so Gary was dispatched to collect it after Julie confirmed the order.

I flopped onto the sofa and closed my eyes. I was feeling tired after what seemed like a torrid week and I was conscious of Julie and Sally talking and trying to decide about a bottle of wine and mum fussing around placing a cushion behind my head. I must have drifted to sleep because the next thing I knew I could hear Julie shouting me to freshen up as supper had arrived.

It was funny because Gary had come into the room and luckily I was sleeping with my legs crossed and not showing my underwear. My leg has gone to sleep so I had to wiggle my toes a lot to get the circulation going. I loved the feel of tights on my legs and the feminine look of my feet that were more slender than average for a boy.

By now I was feeling hungry and Julie poured the wine whilst Sally brought plates and her and mum put the Chinese food dishes on the table with serving spoons. We all had some chop sticks to use as well as a fork and spoon.

As we tucked in I was conscious of Gary looking across at Sally and I and particularly at me. Julie noticed and so she started a conversation about Gran and suggested that I show Sally the ring. She liked it and also thought that the bracelet that Julie was wearing was beautiful.

Gary was getting a bit chatty by now after 2 glasses of wine and Julie had invited him to sleep over.

Then mum said that he could use the spare room if Sally didn’t mind bunking with me. She was smirking a bit and poor Sally blushed and said she was sorry to cause inconvenience. I just said ‘Course she doesn’t mind, we can top and tail’. That brought some laughter and Sally smiled and relaxed.

After supper we relaxed in the lounge and Julie downloaded the photo from my mobile phone and printed it in the study room. She opened the photo album and placed it alongside a photo of Aunt Judith.

‘There you are — two peas in a pod’.

Even Gary commented and said good looks seemed to run in the family. Mum said ‘Except for me of course the ugly sister’. We laughed because mum was even now far from an ugly sister and was slim and had obviously turned many heads in her youth.

Then Gary turned to me and said ‘ Chrissy can I ask you something personal please if you don’t mind?’

To be continued…….