Telling stories
by Tuba
Chapter
1: Grandma
“Oh the kids are making too much noise again! I just
can’t stand this anymore.”
- Hey Hannah, Sarah, stop crying would you?
Sarah, leave your sister alone. Go to your room and stay there! There won’t be
any dinner for you tonight!
- But mother, we didn’t do anything we were
just playing…
- I don’t care, you gave me a headache with your stupid
games and cries. Now go to your room. Don’t you have homework to do during
summer?!!!! I can’t wait for September when you will go to school and leave me
alone!
- Alright mother, sorry we gave you a headache. Goodnight.
-
Goodnight mother… and sorry.
- Yes, whatever…
The girls were in their
room when their grandma came and brought them something to eat.
- Oh
thank you Grandma, we were hungry and you know mother punished us. We won’t have
dinner tonight…
- I know sweethearts, but don’t get mad at her. She is
sick you know and needs silence.
- Yes we know, says Hannah.
- She
is always sick. I know that she doesn’t love us, says Sarah.
- Oh Sarah
please try to understand her. She loves you but you know her condition. She
can’t walk and has a very weak health. She needs to rest, says Mrs
Marlowe.
The twins look at each other and try to understand their mother’s
behaviour. They knew that she couldn’t walk, but was that a reason to treat her
daughters this way? Eeven if it was hard to admit it, they knew that she simply
didn’t love them. They had only their grandmother who took care of them. They
were
happy to have her. They grew up listening to her stories before going to bed.
Now they were twelve-years old. Their grandmother was there again for a bedtime
story and she brought food this time.
- I didn’t say anything, says
Sarah, are you here to tell us a story?
- Yes, I am, but you must finish
your meal first and then wash your hands, brush your teeth, be ready for a
story…
- Alright Grandma, we are not children anymore you know, and tonight
I’ll decide about the story that you’ll tell us
- All right…
When
the twins were getting ready to go to bed, Mrs. Marlowe sat on the rocking chair between
their beds. She opens a book and tries to find a story that she hadn’t told them
yet…
- So girls you want to hear the story of Cinderella?
- I want
to hear the story of Susanna Marlowe and her two daughters, says Sarah.
-
Sarah! What do you mean? Answers her grandma.
- You know very well what
she means, says Hannah, We want to know the truth before we go back to school.
We are tired of getting teased by the other students, they always say that we
don’t have a father and we are illegitimate children. And our mother doesn’t
love us, doesn’t want us to talk about our father. We want to know…
- We
need to know, says her sister.
- But you already know the entire story;
your father went to war and died there.
- So why is my name Sarah
Marlowe? Why do I have the same last name as you and not the name of my father?
- Yes why isn’t our last name Grandchester?
- Because he died at
war and her mother accused your mother to be the reason that he went to war, and
his father didn’t want to accept Susanna as his son’s wife and annulled the
marriage. As you were born while he was at war we couldn’t prove that you were
his children and then…
- That’s nonsense and we are tired of hearing the
same story. Tell us the truth, please grandma…
- Yes please grandma, we
really need to know how our mother lost her leg and how she met our father
and what happened after?
- Alright girls, the truth and nothing else, you
will be upset but you asked for it. You must promise that you won’t say
anything to your mother.
- We promise.
- Where do you want me to
start?
- From mother’s accident…and her meeting with our father. We want
to know every detail…
And Mrs. Marlowe starts to tell them the story of
her daughter…
- Susanna was in love with a young and handsome new actor.
And as you guessed it was your father Terrence Grandchester. He was very
talented and a promising actor, they played together in some plays, I don’t
remember quite well the names but the plays were very famous. Susanna loved him
at first glance but there was another girl. It was an orphan without any charm
but Terrence was in love with her. I guess they went to school together.
Hannah and Sarah couldn’t believe what they just heard. So their father
wasn’t in love with their mother?! How could it possible? Mrs Marlowe seeing her
grandchildren face understands that the news already shocked them.
- Yes
girls, that is true. Your father wasn’t in love with your mother at the
beginning. One day at the theatre that they were rehearsing for Romeo and
Juliet, the lights were about to fall on Terrence when Susanna saved him, but she
lost her leg. After that Terrence felt very bad and he stayed with her because
of duty. Then he started to lose his talent for theatre. He was suffering a lot
from his separation with his girlfriend. Then one day he left without telling
where. Susanna and I were worried and didn’t know where to look for him. However,
after a while he came back, he started to play in big productions again and
proposed to Susanna. They were about to get married when he left again, this
time with a note saying that he had to go to war as it was his “duty”, and that he
was going to marry your mother when he would come back. He never came back from
the war… He died there. We only received a letter from the French army telling
that he was dead… And your mother gave herself to him before the wedding as she
was thinking that they would get married. You were born two months after we
received the news of his death. As you remind her of her lost love, she gets bitter
when she sees you, that’s all. Now that you know the whole story, I wish a good
night girls. Don’t forget your promise, you won’t tell anything to your
mother.
The girls promised and Mrs Marlowe left them, closing the door behind
her.
- Do you believe her story? Asked Sarah.
- No, she is lying,
we have to look for the truth, we have only one month here, and then we leave
New York for school. We must start our research tomorrow.
- Yes…