Chapter 2: The Remedy

Chapter 2: The Remedy

Grandma hears the hard pound of footsteps from her place behind the sink. Scraping the last of the potato skins in to the garbage, she wipes her hands on her apron and turned around to meet Lily’s frazzled body. Lily buries her face in Grandma’s floral apron, her arms clinging around her waist as far as she can reach.

“Sweetie, what’s the matter? What happened?” she asks, prying her tiny shoulders away from her hips in a gentle firm manner. Grandma’s hands search her face, wiping the wet strands of blond away from each cheek.

“My…my…” sobbing between each word, Lily struggles to tell grandma the terrible thing that happened to her.

“Take a deep breath, honey. Relax.” Lily tries very hard to stop crying but every time she thinks about her poor piggy lying on the ground, she starts crying all over again. “Sit down, I’ll get you a glass of water.” Grandma helps her up on the seat and moves to the cabinet. She fills her favorite bunny shaped cup with water from the sink and Lily’s tears came less and less with each sip.

“Now tell me what happened,” Grandma says, with her solid concerned face. This look is familiar to Lily. She sees it each time Grandma finds Lily’s younger brother, Collin crying. Like last month when Grandma babysat both of them and Collin stole Lily’s pillow pet. She took it right back, scolding him for taking HER things. Collin was a baby, and always cried, but Grandma didn’t understand that. She always ordered Lily to apologize to Collin, with her solid eyes and stern mouth. Lily naturally did what her Grandma told her to. This was no different,

“A mean boy came by and knocked over my lemonade” she lets out in one long breath. Grandma rises from her seat at the kitchen table and takes off her apron. Slipping off her slippers and lacing on her sandals, she listens as Lily adds, “And piggy broke.” Lily forces herself to control her sniffles under Grandma’s stare. Grandma remains silent and exits the room for about two minutes. Returning with a change of clothes and shoes for Lily, her soundless action causes Lily to forget the terror momentarily. Once the lemonade stained outfit finds respite in the washing machine, Lily finds her hand in Grandma’s being led out the front door. Grandma’s words remain out of sight, like the pavement on the road while driving in the car.

Where is Grandma going? Lily wonders. Her short torso allows her view of the afternoon sky, yet conceals the direction of their trip. Grandma’s silence breaks only after she stops the car.

“This one’s on me,” she says with a wink. Unbuckling Lily’s seatbelt, Grandma steals her hand to help her out of the white Subaru. Looking up, Lily finds three glass windows teeming bright with lollipops, gumballs, streamers and chocolates. The sign says something about candy, she’s sure, and she can’t hold in her excitement. Eyes smiling, she breaks her gaze to look up at Grandma whose knowing face understood her granddaughter so simply.  

With a deliberate step forward, Grandma excitedly whispers, “Shall we?”