Youre nearly there now! Well be with you soon! Get ready! Gran shouted down the phone, then hung up.
Anna wiped down her kitchen table for the third time this hour, then stepped back and surveyed the room with a critical eye. Everything sparkled. The fridge was bursting with groceries, a roast duck was gently cooking in the oven, and white chrysanthemums bloomed in a crystal vase on the windowsill.
At thirty-eight, Anna Williams has her own flat in the heart of London and a solid position at a large company. Everything she has, shes earned herself. And tonight, just before the holidays, shes preparing to welcome the family.
Her doorbell buzzes promptly at four.
Annie! My dear! Gran Dorothy Webster is the first to step across the threshold, scanning the hallway with approval mixed with scrutiny. At last we get a proper visit. Youre always so busy these days
Behind her squeezes Mum, Linda Williams, hauling two suitcases, followed by Aunt Helen clutching mystery bags crammed with jars, and last is cousin Charlieskinny, scruffy, with an unkempt parka.
Charlies just been let go from work, Aunt Helen whispers conspiratorially. Can you imagineheartless, just before the holidays!
Charlie manages a crooked smile and slinks off with the bags.
Careful with your shoesparquet flooring here, Anna says, rescuing a dripping boot.
Oh look, parquet! Linda waves it off. Itll survive.
The first night goes almost perfectly. Gran gushes over the duck, Aunt Helen shares neighbourly gossip, Mum critiques Annas new haircut but gently, and Charlie wordlessly devours food for three, thumbing through his mobile.
Its lovely here, Gran says, putting her fork down. Spacious enough. Arent you nervous, living alone in this flat?
I quite like it, Anna pours everyone tea.
Likes it, she says, Linda shakes her head. Almost forty and still on her own. She likes it
Anna feigns deafness.
The evening is boisterous and warm. Gran spins tales from her youth, Aunt Helen sings, even Charlie cracks a smile. Anna herself realises shes missed this family chaos, the smell of Mums potato salad, and Grans laughter.
In the morning, Anna tiptoes around:
So, when shall I start looking at tickets? The fifth? The sixth?
What tickets, Annie? Grans eyes widen. Weve just arrived! Well stay a weekunless you mind?
Of course not, but
Good, Mum claps her hands. Helen, get your recipe, show Anna how to make proper burgers.
One week stretches into two
Annas prized flat becomes a thoroughfare. The sofa is claimed by Charlie, laptop and dirty socks in tow. Aunt Helen overtakes the kitchen, filling the fridge with questionable jars. Gran rearranges all the lounge furniture to make it cosier. Mum conducts daily wardrobe inspections, sighing over Annas hopeless organisation.
Anna, whys the cottage cheese gone? Linda stands at the fridgeseven a.m.
Anna, halfway out for work, freezes with her coffee mug.
Charlie ate three tubs last night.
And what, Gran should go without breakfast? Pop out and get some, wont you?
Mum, Ill be late.
Work can wait. Gran needs her cottage cheese.
Anna dashes to the shop. Then the chemist for Grans tablets. Then the post office for Aunt Helens parcel. She arrives at work by lunchtime, frazzled and irate.
Home is sheer disorder. The kitchens festooned with dirty plates, a wet towel is abandoned in the bathroom, and Aunt Helen is perched on Annas bed, chattering on her phone.
Can you believe it, Zoe? She lives in luxury! All alone, like Lady Muck! Should find a husband and have some kids, really
Anna gently closes her door and stands in the hallway, her back to the wall.
Why are you standing there? Mum breezes past with a dinner plate. Ive made tea, you know. Put it on the table.
Thanks, Mum.
Go on then, lay the table.
At supper, Aunt Helen laments how her neighbours niece had two kids by twenty-five, and Charlie slurps noisily.
Annie dear, Gran dabs her lips, could you help Charlie find a job? Youve got contacts.
What contacts, Gran? I work in marketing, Charlies a programmer.
So? Ring around, help the ladits family.
Just get me one that pays more, Charlie grunts, not looking up from his phone. Minimum eighty grand.
Anna chokes on her tea.
Charlie, you were making thirty before.
So what? Inflation.
Aunt Helen shakes her head.
You see, Anna, how hard it is for young people now. And you live all alone in this palace, not caring for anyone else.
Anna goes to wash the plates in silence.
Late that night, Anna stares at her ceiling, remembering
Her fifteenth birthdayMum invited twenty relatives, not a single friend. Prom night, forced into a sensible suit like proper girls. Her first real jobGran shrugged, shuffling papers isnt a career.
Anna squeezes shut her eyes. Only three hours until work. Sleep wont come.
That evening, after a late meeting and traffic jams, Anna gets home and stops dead.
On the lounge floor, porcelain fragments glint. The trinket boxher fathers mother brought it from Hong Kong in 72the only thing left from her.
Charlies standing nearby, hands hidden.
I didnt mean to. It just fell.
Anna kneels, gathering up the pieces. Tiny hand-painted dragons, gold trim. Its rubbish now.
Oh dont fret, Anna, Aunt Helen calls from the kitchen. Its just a knick-knack.
It was my grandmothers.
Your grandmothers? Linda emerges. Oh, the old onewell, it was ancient anyway Dont get upset.
Anna lifts her head. Slowly.
Dont get upset?
Oh Anna, dont make a scene, Charlie rolls his eyes. Its just an old glass thing. Buy a new one.
Something inside Anna snaps.
A new one? She stands, trembling, shards clenched in her palm. Youve smashed my only memory of Gran and say buy a new one?
Oh here we go, Aunt Helen folds her arms. Dorothy, come see the show!
Gran hobbles in.
Whats all this noise, Annie? Whats happened?
What happened? Anna laughsa brittle, unfamiliar sound even to herself. Three weeks, Gran. Three weeks of you living here. Eating my food. Using my things. And not oncea single thank you. Not once!
Anna! Linda flushes. How dare you speak to your gran that way?
How dare you speak to me this way? Anna turns on her mum. Every day it’s why aren’t you married, why no children, why so much work. Every day!
We only care! Aunt Helen protests. We worry!
Care? Anna dumps the porcelain in the bin. Is this your idea of love? Charlies emptied my fridge, never washed a plate, hes just smashed my only precious thing. Helen, youve rummaged every cupboard and tell neighbours Im an old maid. Mum, you find a way to belittle me every morning. You call this love?
A suffocating silence hangs in the air.
Anna! Linda recovers first. Apologise right now!
Anna pulls away.
No. Enough! Thirty-eight years Ive apologisedfor not being who you wanted, for not marrying at twenty, for building a career, for buying this flat with my own money, with no help from you. Enough!
Well leave then! Aunt Helen purses her lips. Charlie, pack up!
Yes, please do. And dont come back until you can respect me and my home.
Anna, youve gone mad! Linda blanches. Were family, your own flesh and blood!
So, does that mean you can walk all over me?
Packing takes two hoursheavy sighs, slamming doors, conspicuous silence. Anna sits at the kitchen table, unmoving. Hollow.
Youll remember this day, Gran pauses at the door. When youre old and alone in your precious flat. Remember how you chased family away.
The door clicks shut
Anna sits, numb, for nearly twenty minutes. Then gets up, makes tea, and steps out onto the balcony.
London hums below, indifferent and constant.
The next days dredge by in a daze. Anna goes to work, comes home, sits in the quiet. The flat, finally empty, is enormous and impossibly still.
On the fifth day, Anna digs out her paint box from the closet. She hasnt painted in ten yearsno time, or it just felt silly.
The first sketch is clumsy. The second, a bit better.
By the weekend, theres a portrait on the easel: her other grandmother, young, with Annas eyes, a silk dress, holding that porcelain trinket box.
Her friend Emily, who Anna finally calls, arrives that night with wine and pizza.
Three weeks! Emily shakes her head after the story is finished. Id have kicked them out after two days.
I couldnt. Theyre family, my own.
Family are the people who love you. What you had was something else entirely.
Anna sips her wine in silence.
You did brilliantly, Emily squeezes her hand. You showed real backbone.
Another week passes. Anna puts the furniture back. Tosses Aunt Helens mysterious jars. Buys new bedding, sleeps soundly at last
Mum rings late in winter. The conversation is short and hesitant.
I suppose we went too far, Linda says after a long pause. I did.
Yes, Anna agrees. Too far.
You youre my daughter. I do love you. I just dont always know how to show it. Dont hold it against me, will you?
I know, Mum.
Its not forgiveness. Not yet. But its a beginning. The start of something healthier, something honest.
