Treasures
Using a story prompt: Their house was filled with oddities that seemed out of place for grandma and grandpa. Looking back now, it suddenly all made sense.
“I hate cleaning up old houses,” Kat said with a shudder. The youngest of our family, we weren't surprised. Anything “old” was anathema to Kat. Jenna and I just smiled. Jenna had always loved my grandparents, ever since we were dating, 20 years ago. They had accepted her as a member of the family immediately and made her feel wanted and included. Holding Jenna's hand, I said, “I've always liked it here. There's always somewhere to go and something weird to discover.”
Jenna nodded and we headed into Grandpa's study. My grandparents hadn't been hoarders, the house was neat and tidy with everything in its place. But they had bookshelves and cabinets full of curios that had fascinated me as a child.
“Your grandpa was a plumber, right?” Jenna asked. “Yes, why?” “How did a plumber come across a set of samurai swords?” I laughed. “oh, my uncle sent those to him when he was in Japan. Pretty sure they're cheap tourist trinkets, plastic horn stand and so forth.” Jenna wasn't so sure. This was a theme for the rest of the day, really. Jenna would see something that she thought was more valuable than I expected, and at the end of the day I agreed to have a professional come evaluate some of our finds.
Kat needed no such help, however. She had gravitated to Grandma's walk-in closet and we heard delighted gasps and squeals from that direction all day long. Kat hated old stuff, but “retro” was a different matter entirely. Around lunchtime Jenna and I went to find her.
“Nick! Nick Nick Nickie Nick! Grandma has such good taste! Look at all these dresses! And they fit!” (Meaning, of course, that they fit Kat.) I looked at what she had laid out on a table in the closet. Styles spanning decades. A flapper dress from the 20's and a very conservative tweed dress from the 40's were the only things I recognized and could put names to. There did seem to be a complete lack of tacky 1970's pantsuits. The sweaters and blazers and dresses that we had known Grandma to wear were presumably still in the closet, unlikely as they were to fit Kat in either form or taste.
“These are some very pretty pieces,” Jenna said. Kat glared daggers at my wife for a split second before remembering tat Jenna was a full head taller than Kat or—presumably—grandma, then smiled and said “Right? I'm sure she would have wanted me to have these.”
“But why did she have these?” Jenna mused. “Your grandma was born in the 1940s, had kids in the 1960s, and I don't seem to remember her going to all that many costume parties.” But Kat seemed unable or unwilling to run with the topic. We pried Kat out of the closet for lunch and then went back to cleaning up the house. By dinnertime we had emptied the living room and kitchen—no real surprises in either room— and Kat had a sizeable pile of heirlooms to remember grandma by built up in the backseat of her Kia. Jenna locked the front door and we drove home,
“You're awfully quiet,” “Just thinking. How much do you know about your grandparents?” “That's a weird question. Grandpa fought in Korea, got injured, came home, married grandma, became a plumber, ran a plumbing company, had three kids, Dad, Aunt Milly and Uncle Ryan, went to college after they left home, got his BA in Linguistics and an MS in information systems... Okay, now that you mention it, that is an interesting career path.” “Did he do anything with those degrees?” “I dunno, he was mostly retired and just liked studying, I think. He told me once that he regretted not getting educated as a young man.” “And your grandmother?” “She did go to college, got her undergrad in finance, married grandpa, had kids, ran the books for the plumbing company all those years, even took on clients at tax season every year, got her MS in finance when her kids were in school.” “And a PhD” Jenna said. “What?” “It's in your 'grandfather's' study. Your grandmother is a Doctor of Accounting.” “What?” “How did you not know that, Nickie?” “She never really talked about it.”
The next few weeks were like seeing a puzzle being built in reverse. We knew—we thought we knew—Grandma and Grandpa. but as we went through their house we found the edges of the pieces that made up the lives we had known. Grandpa had started not one but four companies. Uncle Ryan inherited the plumbing company and was running it as a side business now, having leveraged it to help him start a consulting firm that was his main passion, helping people restructure failing businesses. We went to talk to him about it and he said that Grandma had helped him start that company, and had run the books until he could afford a decent accountant on his own.
One of Grandpa's other companies had been shut down, he sold the other two. We had always thought our grandparents were well enough off but not rich, we came to find out that their money had just never been used for showing off. We knew that they took a lot of vacations, but we had never realized that they weren't just going to Phoenix for the winter, thy were going to Thailand or China or Rome or Cairo. Grandma loved all things Mediterranean and they had even volunteered at a dig site that was later proven to be the most likely site of the City of Troy.
the oddest part was that Dad knew all this.
“Why didn't you tell us?” I asked him. “Oh, thats just mom and dad. That's just what they do.” My mom smiled as she walked through the room. “I found out your father's best friend had moved from Seattle to a house ten minutes away a full year after he moved. Which coincidentally was also the first time your father had been to that house. He's always been a bit lax in this regard, Nickie, you know that.” “It runs in the family,” Jenna said, squeezing my hand.