There was something strange about the way
Megan's gran had exploded. It wasn't that she was on holiday at the time, it
wasn't that it was really unlucky because she had won the holiday in a
competition, it wasn't even that she was waterskiing. No. It was that before
exploding on faulty water skis on her unexpected holiday, she had not phoned
Megan when she said she would. Gran always phoned. Always.
Megan's mum suggested that was "maybe
because of all the sangria", but still, it didn't feel right. None of it
felt right. Everyone made a sad understanding face when Megan said this, so she
decided to stop talking about it.
Now, weeks later, she sat on her bed,
holding a letter her gran had left for her. Megan brushed her dark curls out of
her eyes and stared at the envelope some more. Not quite ready to open it yet.
The week that followed the explosion was
very strange. Exploding on holiday is clearly quite an inconvenient thing to
do; serious black suited people kept turning up at the house with forms for Mum
and Dad to fill in. Newspapers and a television crew wanted to speak to them as
well, because it was such a "tragic" and "unusual" story.
Megan was pretty sure her gran would have been delighted to be tragic and
unusual.
Then they started getting the letters. Lots
of people still remembered Megan's Gran from when she wrote scary books, and
sent them emails or cards or flowers to say how sad they were, some even sent
little cuddly knitted toys of her monsters. Mum really didn't know what to do
with those, even though they were woollen, some of them were still pretty
terrifying. Gorskyn had always been Megan's favourite creature, so she took one
of those ones to keep in her room, its little tentacles had tassles on the end.
She and her brother Lewis had not been
allowed to go to the funeral, because dad said it would be, "too
sad", which Megan sort of thought was the point. Even clown funerals must
be sad. There were no sad understanding faces when she said this though. She
was pretty sure Mum quietly phoned the doctor.
Instead, while everyone else went up to the
hillside cemetery, Megan and Lewis had gone to the cafe in Gourock with an elderly
aunt, Grans's cousin. Lewis got an ice cream and Megan got a cappuccino just
for the foam and sprinkles.
Outside, the river splashed gently against
the pierhead, there was not a cloud in the sky. 'It should be stormy on a day
like this,' thought Megan, 'there should be lightning and trees blowing over.
Not sunshine and ice cream.' The sun just carried on shining regardless.
To take her mind off the fact that she
wasn't getting to say goodbye to Gran properly, Megan tried to talk to the
elderly aunt about her, but elderly aunt just wrinkled her already wrinkly
nose, so that it ended up looking like a walnut, and said 'Best not. Lovely
lady. But a strange one. All that sad business when she was wee.' Megan made a mental note to send her a cuddly monster
and continued staring out the window onto the river. Seagulls dipped and dived
in the breeze. Elderly aunt bought them some strawberry tarts, and then they
went home.
Almost dark enough now. Megan stared at the
envelope. It was from the stationary set she had made Gran for Christmas last
year. It had taken ages, but everything had been handmade, from the paper to the
little wooden box it all came in. The letter smelled of Gran's perfume.
Megan thought again about the last time she
saw her Gran. It was the day before she went on holiday. Gran had suggested
they go for a walk round the dam to feed the swans. Megan had thought she
seemed a bit sad for someone who had won a free holiday, but had just assumed
it was one of those strange grown up things.
'It's a shame you didn't win another
ticket. I could have come with you.' she said.
'Och it'll be all bingo and karaoke, not
your type of thing at all.' smiled Gran.
'You don't play bingo.' said Megan.
'There's usually nothing else to do on
these old people holidays. I'm taking my nintendo.'
There were baby swans this year, and they
fed them some of Gran's fairy cakes.
'Are you okay?' asked Megan eventually.
'Hmm? Ach fine. Whenever I'm stuck, I come
and have a bit of a sit in the park.'
'When do you get stuck?' asked Megan, 'You
always know what to do.'
Megan's Gran smiled quietly for a moment,
watching the family of swans flapping happily across the dam, dancing in the
last of the summer sunshine.
'Do you remember when I used to read you
the ugly duckling?' said Gran.
Megan nodded, hoping this wasn't her Gran's
attempt to start talking about growing up.
'You always did a funny duck voice.' said
Megan.
'Well...it's a load of rubbish. No such
thing as ugly ducklings. People spend years waiting to be beautiful swans. What
a waste of time. Just be a beautiful duck and get on with it.' Gran turned and grinned
at Megan, then steadied herself with her walking stick. 'Come on, you can help
me finish packing.'
Megan had wanted to tell Gran her secret that
day, she knew she would understand, know what to do. Instead, she walked her
home, stayed for tea and spent the evening discussing who the best looking
vampires were.
'I'll phone you 6 o'clock tomorrow night,
once I've had a chance to check out the handsome barmen.' said Gran with a cheeky
wink.
Megan laughed, kissed her goodnight and
went home.
It was too late to tell her now. All too
late.
It was yesterday that dad had taken her to
the lawyers office to get the letter. Her letter. Mum and dad had already been
to see the lawyer about Gran's will - she had left them a bit of money, not
millions of pounds or anything - any money Gran had made, she enjoyed spending
while she was still alive, taking them all on holidays or out for dinner and
laserquest. Gran always cheated at laserquest. But there was still some there.
Enough for them not to worry for awhile. The most important thing though, was
her Grans final instruction, that a letter be personally handed to Megan, that
no one else was to open or read. The letter was waiting for her at the lawyers
office.
The office was not far from the town
centre, in one of the bits that was being rebuilt, or demolished. It was
sometimes hard to tell the difference, the whole town seemed to be scaffolded,
like it was being held up in case it fell over.
Megan was hoping the lawyers office would
be all wood panels and old green leather chairs, but it looked a bit more like
an opticians, all shiny glass and chrome.
'Your grandmother lodged the letter with us
6 months ago,' said the Lawyer. 'It has been in the safe since then. A few
weeks ago, she visited us to give us two further instructions. First, she made
it very clear to us that we are to advise that you open the letter alone.'
Megan nodded.
'Secondly, she asked that you return here next
year, with the contents of the letter on the 23rd May. Is that clear?'
'That's her birthday.' said Dad.
'Those were the instructions. Can you do
that Megan?'
Megan nodded again, feeling suddenly very
grown up and serious.
The Lawyer handed her the letter and,
surprised by her own shaking hands, Megan took it and put it inside her jacket
pocket, holding it carefully, as if it were full of diamonds and gunpowder.
Mum had been really nosey about it, wanting
to know what it said, and Dad had told her that if it was a cheque she had to
tell them about it. It was Megan's letter though, and she insisted on waiting
until everyone else was in bed before opening it. Alone. Just like Gran had
asked.
She pulled gently at the envelope, trying
to take her time over it. Inside, was a very small piece of paper, some of the
vellum parchment Megan had made by flattening out wood pulp.
'There can't be much written on that.'
thought Megan, just a little disappointed.
There were two other items in the envelope;
a piece of old newspaper and one of those foldout street maps of the town. For
now though, Megan was only interested in her letter. Sure enough, it was very
short, but the first line said almost everything Megan hoped it would.
'Dear Megan, I know why you can fly.'
