“She never stopped talking about you,” said Edna. “Your dear old granny said you were the light of her life. She said she would really look forward to you coming to stay on a Friday. It was the best part of her week.”
“It was the best part of my week too,” said Ben.
“Well, if you like Scrabble you must pop over to the old folk’s home one day for a game,” said Edna. “I need a new partner now your granny’s gone.”
“That would be great,” said Ben.
♦
Later that evening, as his parents watched the Strictly Stars Dancing Christmas Special, Ben climbed out of his bedroom window and slid down the drainpipe. Without making a sound, he took his bike out of the garage, and cycled to Granny’s house one last time.
Snow was falling. It crunched under the wheels of his bike. Ben watched it come down, landing softly on the ground, barely paying attention to his route. He knew the journey off by heart now. He had cycled to the old lady’s so many times over the last few months he knew every bump and crack in the road.
He stopped his bike outside Granny’s little bungalow. There was a scattering of snow on the roof. Post was piled up outside, the lights were all off and there was a ‘For Sale’ sign with icicles hanging off it standing outside.
Even so, Ben was half expecting to see Granny at the window.
Looking at him with that hopeful little smile of hers.
But of course she wasn’t there. She was gone for ever.
But she wasn’t gone from his heart.
Ben wiped away a tear, took a deep breath, and cycled off home.
He sure had an amazing story to tell his grandchildren one day.
∨ Gangsta Granny ∧
Postscript
“Christmas is a special time of year,” said the Queen. She was her usual serious self, seated majestically on an antique chair in Buckingham Palace. Once again delivering her annual message to the nation.
Mum, Dad and Ben had just finished their Christmas lunch, and were slumped together on the sofa with mugs of tea watching the Queen on TV, as they did every year.
“A time for families to get together and celebrate,” Her Majesty went on.
“However, let’s not forget the elderly. A few weeks ago, I met a lady around my age and her grandson, at the Tower of London.”
Ben squirmed uncomfortably in his seat.
He glanced at his parents, but they were watching the TV, oblivious.
“It made me think how the young need to show a little more kindness to the elderly. If you are a young person watching this, perhaps give up your seat for an elderly person on the bus. Or help them carry their shopping. Share a game of Scrabble with us. Why not bring us a nice bag of Murray Mints, once in a while? We old folk do love a nice chomp on a mint. And most of all, young people of this country, I want you to remember this, we old people are certainly not boring. You never know, one day we might even shock you.”
Then, with a mischievous grin, the Queen lifted up her skirt to the entire country and flashed her Union Jack knickers.
Mum and Dad spat out their tea all over the carpet in astonishment.
But Ben just smiled.
The Queen’s a proper gangsta, he thought. Just like my granny.
EOF
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