Granny
Granny never took to young Victor…
She just didnt, plain and simplecalled him a little devil, a good-for-nothing, a proper handful.
Victor gave as good as he got, pulling all sorts of mischief on her.
Shed set the dough to rise, and hed toss in a handful of dill seeds or fennel. The dough would spill over the bowl, Granny would knead it, and there theyd bebits of green speckled through the loaf.
Shed bake it, fluffy and golden, but those seeds ruined it.
“Eat it.”
“Wont. You have it.”
“Oh, you ungrateful little wretch! Youve never known war, never gone hungry!”
“Oh, and you have, I suppose?”
“I have, I have… picking stray ears of corn from the fields, digging up last years potatoes if we were lucky. Come spring, wed feast on nettle soup, bread made from weedswild garlic, sorrel, even crows garlic…”
“Crows garlic? What, you ate crows?”
“Dont be daft, you little fool. Its a planttasty, too. Then came berries, mushrooms… We survived. And you dare complain…”
Sometimes, Granny and Victor got along, but as he grew older, those peaceful days grew fewer.
“Ill tell Mum how you treat me!”
“Oh, will you now? Listen to himcheeky little sod. Go on, then, run to your mother. Good riddance.”
“I will!”
“Go, then. See if she wants you. Tossed you aside like a pup in the snow, she did…”
Victors mum, after years of struggle, had remarried. The stepdad wasnt a bad sortdidnt drink like Victors real dad, whod frozen to death one winter night, didnt smokebut he was hard, stingy.
Victors real dad had been kind. A pint or two, and hed be merry, buying Victor toys and sweets, spinning Mum around till she laughed despite herself. The stepdad? Not a shred of warmth.
When Mum first introduced them, the man had curled his lip.
“How longs the lad staying, Kate?”
“Hes my son,” Mum said sharply. “You knew I had a child.”
“Well, hes managed without us till now.”
“Hes been at Grannys on school breaks.”
“Then let him stay there.”
“He needs to go to school!”
“What, no schools where she lives? Kate, well never save a penny feeding another mouth. Last week, he shoved three sweets in at once!”
“Thats a lie!” Victor burst out. “I didnt! Mum gave me one Dairy Milk this morning, and that was it!”
Victor and the stepdad clashed constantlycounting every bite he took, refusing to buy him clothes. Finally, Mum talked to Granny and sent Victor back to her.
“Mum, why dyou need him? We were fine, just us two!”
“Victor… its hard alone, so hard. I thought hed be a husband to me, a father to you. But hes worse than a stray dog.”
“Leave him, then! Lets live together, like before.”
“I cant, love. We gave up our old flat…”
“Just ask for it back! Say you made a mistake marrying that miser. Theyll understand!”
“Its not that simple, Victor…”
Mum pulled him close and wept.
“Dont cry… Is it cause of me? If I stay with Granny, will he treat you better? Then take me there…”
Mum visited rarely. Victor missed her terribly, and when she did come, theyd talk for hours, clinging to each other.
Granny would smile then, calling them “her chicks,” bustling about, cooking up a storm.
“Couldnt you stay, Kate?”
“I cant, Mum… you know why.”
“Ohhh, my poor, poor lambs…”
After Mum left, Granny would be extra sharp with Victor.
No going to the quarry with the lads.
“Theres the stream by the gardensplash there.”
That trickle? A sparrow could wade it.
He longed to join the boys at the quarry, where theyd built a diving board. To leap like a swallow into that blue-green water, surface with a gasp, swim to the bank where girls giggled, haul himself up by a tuft of reeds, shaking off water like an otter.
Then sprawl on the warm sand, watching cows amble to drink, old Tom flicking his whip to herd them…
Pure happiness!
But Granny didnt understand. If she loved him, shed let him go. All the other boys went.
She said kids drowned therebut kids drowned every year! Should he never go because of that?
No camping in the woods either”A wolverine attacked lads once!” When? Centuries ago! That wolverine was long dead.
Always something.
Mum hadnt visited in ages.
When she didplumper. Odd, with the stepdad counting every spoonful.
Granny shook her head.
“When, Kate?”
“By Michaelmas.”
“God willing… Ohhh, these burdens…”
“Granny…” Victor, nearly nine, edged close. “Is Mum… having a baby?”
“Aye.”
“What about me? Where do I go?”
“Youll stay with me, love.” Granny pulled him close, stroking his hair. “Just us two, my poor lamb. Nobody wants you but your old Granny.”
“Not even Mum?”
Granny just held him tighter.
By Michaelmas, snow fell. Granny took Victor to town.
Mum was home, swollen, tired. She hugged him, ruffled his hair.
“How longs this visit, Peggy?” the stepdad asked that evening.
“Were moving in.”
He near leapt out of his chair.
“What?”
“Victors her son, Im her mother. Im old, hes young. A child shouldnt be without his mum, left to your miserly ways. Together, well stand our ground.”
The stepdad sank onto a chair, purple-faced.
“Mum, dont scare himwe dont need another dropping dead!”
“Well manage. Kate, chuck this tyrant. Why dyou stare? Ive brought my own tea, my own piesnot a crumb of yours. But clothes he needs, so dig deep… Dad.”
“Wha?”
“You married Katethat makes you his father. Act like one.”
“Mum, shes joking, Greg…”
“Fine joke…”
“Just a laugh… Oh, Kate, you daft girl. Come, Victorlets shop. Ive a bit saved. And you, son-in-law, go easy on the helpingsor is free grub the only tasty sort?”
“Mum!”
“Right, right. Come on, Vic.”
At the bus stop, Mum pressed money into Grannys hand.
“Keep it, Kate.”
“For Victor… Go on.”
They bought clothes, met friends. Victors eyes grew damp.
“Whats up, Vic?”
“Nowt…”
Granny wouldnt understand.
“Nowt, eh? Come on.”
“Where?”
“Youll see.”
The bakery.
“Fancy an éclair?”
Victor gaped. All this time, hed thought she didnt love him.
“Wh-what about you?” he stammered. “Have we enough?”
“Oh, my golden boy…” Granny teared up. “Worried for your Granny? Id love onetried one once, delicious.”
“Two, then! Or three!”
“Dont be silly…”
They ate their treats. At the bus stop, Gypsy women sold shawlslovely, flowing things.
“Ooh, pretty! Got a ring? Watchsee? Pulls right through!”
“How much?” Granny asked sharply.
“For you, sister, a bargain!” The price named wouldve made a statue blink.
“Get lost!”
Granny dragged Victor away, but hed seen her eyes linger. The woman chased, haggling, till the bus arrivedold, reeking of petrol.
Granny sighed all the way, complaining to neighbours about shawls, Gypsies, tight-fisted sons-in-law. Victor flushed, staring out the window.
Two days later, Mum had a girlAnnie.
A month on, the stepdad brought her to Grannys.
“Ive work. Kates in hospital…”
“Why not your mums?”
He shrugged and left.
“Granny…”
“Hmm?” She stared out the window.
“Tiny, isnt she?”
“Aye.”
“Granny…”
“What?” She wiped her eyes.
“Will Mum… die?”
