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Grannygramashouse0ne.spaces.live.com
Granny
By Trudy A. Martinez
Technorati Tags: journal entry
Normally in the morning when my grandmother awoke, my aunt would attend to her needs, but this summer, I was to be her little helper. When I agreed to be her little helper, I had no idea that she would be my alarm clock. Promptly at 5:00 A.M., she went off: "TRU-U-U DY." she called out, pronouncing each syllable of my name separately as if to transform it from one name into two. The sound of the vowel was intensified, imitating the doleful howl of a wolf.
"TRU-U-U DY," she repeated. As the stress of the syllables gained intensity, the tone of her voice rose, producing an irritation ring in my ear. Then just as abruptly, her voice dropped to a sweet mellow tone that sounded almost like a whisper. "Are you up, Buttercup?" She asked. The expression of endearment (Buttercup) softened the rude harshness of my awakening and soothed my senses.
"I am now." I quickly replied, preventing her from repeating the episode. "What on earth could she want at this hour of the morning?" I thought as my brain slowly came out of its dream-like state. "Perhaps, she misplaced her cane." I reasoned as I hopped out of bed. "Granny needed her cane, " I assured myself, "--to find her way to the bathroom." I continued to justify my thoughts as I made my way down the hall to her room, "The cane is like another leg to Granny, strong and sturdy; it assists her old weary bones by holding up her aggregated frame." As I approached the doorway, her words greeted me.
"Buttercup, " she said sweetly as I entered the room, " I want you to give me my shot this morning."
"You want me to do What?" I said, questioning the words that tingled in my ears; they sent chills down my spine, feeding the surface of my skin with blossoming goose bumps.
"I want you to give me my insulin shot, " she repeated.
"Aunt Peg said she would give you your shot before she left." I shuttered to think I would have to do it. "I am only nine years old." I added, trying to convince her that I wasn't worthy of such a honor. "Besides, " I continued, "I don't know how," thinking the matter was now settled and that my final reply would put and end to such an outrageous idea.
"I'll teach you," she quickly replied in a reassuring tone. "You may be only nine," she said, smiling. "But you look and act much older." As she continued to butter me up, she reached for my hand, grasping it and squeezing it gently as she spoke. "I am confident you can do it," she said. "Say you will," She pleaded. "Say you will." Granny's eyes were small and gray; they appeared like passage ways that led into the inner depth of her being, pleading with me long after her words ceased.
"Okay," I stammered out slowly, hesitating and then adding, "But, --I don't want to hurt you."
"You won't. Now go--get the insulin out of the ice box."
"You mean the refrigerator, Granny," I said laughingly, correcting her and bringing her back into the present as I left the room.
When I returned (moments latter), I found Granny sitting on the edge of the bed with her feet dangling over the edge. In my absence, she seemed to have been transformed into a different person. her eyes were no longer pale gray. Instead, they appeared dark and sinister. The gentleness had disappeared; they were now huge monstrous looking eyes, piercing the depth of my soul. I felt like Little Red Riding Hood, wanting to scream out, "Granny, what big eyes you have!" while anticipating her answer: "Better to see you with my dear." My mind raced. Then I noticed Granny's glasses were no longer sitting on the night stand; they were sitting on the bridge of her nose. I giggled inwardly and smiled. The glass was thick, thick as the glass of a coke bottle; they magnified; they intensified her every glance. Occasionally a slight tint of a rainbow could be seen when she moved her head slightly.
"What's the matter with you Buttercup?" her sweet voice hummed.
"Oh, nothing," I replied, smiling sheepishly. "Get the syringe out the bottom drawer," she ordered. I obeyed. She gave me step-by-step directions on how to fill the syringe with the insulin, interjecting how much she hated for my Aunt Peg to do it. She said, "Your Aunt Peg jabs the needle in my leg as if she were attacking a wild animal."
I laughed as I gently pricked her skin, pushed slowly inward and released the medication from the syringe as she had instructed.
"Ah-h-h," she exclaimed, "--that didn't hurt at all! You did good." Then she looked at me questionably and asked, "Why were you laughing?"
"Granny," I said bravely, "When I returned to the room just now--"
"Yes," she said coaxing me on when I hesitated.
"I--I imagined you were--." I hesitated again, then blurted out, "The Big Bad Wolf."
Granny roared out laughing, waking Aunt Peg who instantly appeared at the doorway like a hunter seeking his prey. When Granny finally got a grip on herself, she said, "Buttercup, you just made my day." The she turned to look over at Aunt Peg and said, "You've been replaced--I've already been shot today!"
-Trudy Martinez- |
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