Hard Word
“Now.
At first I thought Mum’s memory must be going the same way as Grandma Vera’s. Only earlier.
‘If you think I’m going to pack your grandmother up in her present state, and cart her all round the country. Like some blessed King Lear …’ We were arguing again about my birthday party. About whether Mum and Philip couldn’t go away for the night. And take Katie and Grandma Vera with them. To the coast. To Uncle Brian’s. Or somewhere.
‘Just,’ she was still going on, ‘so that you and Toni and your f...riends can have the house to yourselves …’ ‘To play up in,’ I said. And I saw from the way her head snapped back and her eyes narrowed that I’d got the voice just right. Grandma Vera’s voice. ‘Misbehave in –’ And that was when she came out with it.
‘Laura Vassilopoulos,’ she said. ‘You can be a very difficult young woman.’ And it was my turn to go Huh? then, because that’s exactly what she’s always said she wanted me to be when I grew up. A difficult young woman.MoreLess
At first I thought Mum’s memory must be going the same way as Grandma Vera’s. Only earlier.
‘If you think I’m going to pack your grandmother up in her present state, and cart her all round the country. Like some blessed King Lear …’ We were arguing again about my birthday party. About whether Mum and Philip couldn’t go away for the night. And take Katie and Grandma Vera with them. To the coast. To Uncle Brian’s. Or somewhere.
‘Just,’ she was still going on, ‘so that you and Toni and your f...riends can have the house to yourselves …’ ‘To play up in,’ I said. And I saw from the way her head snapped back and her eyes narrowed that I’d got the voice just right. Grandma Vera’s voice. ‘Misbehave in –’ And that was when she came out with it.
‘Laura Vassilopoulos,’ she said. ‘You can be a very difficult young woman.’ And it was my turn to go Huh? then, because that’s exactly what she’s always said she wanted me to be when I grew up. A difficult young woman.MoreLess
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