Twenties Girl

I’ve never really known any old people. Not really, really old.

“Hello!” I wave nervously at one white-haired lady who is sitting nearby, and her face immediately crumples in distress.

Shit.

“Sorry!” I call quietly. “I didn’t mean to… er…”

A nurse comes over to the white-haired lady, and in slight relief I hurry after Gi

“Are you a relation?” she asks, showing me into a little reception room.

“I’m Sadie’s great-niece.”

“Lovely!” says the nurse, flicking on the kettle. “Cup of tea? We’ve been expecting someone to call, actually. Nobody ever picked up her stuff.”

“That’s what I’m here about.” I hesitate, gearing myself up. “I’m looking for a necklace which I believe once belonged to Sadie. A glass-bead necklace, with a dragonfly set with rhinestones.” I smile apologetically. “I know it’s a long shot and I’m sure you don’t even-”

“I know the one.” She nods.

“You know the one?” I stare at her stupidly. “You mean… it exists?”

“She had a few lovely bits.” Gi

“Right!” I swallow, trying to keep calm. “Could I possibly see it?”

“It’ll be in her box.” Gi

“Of course.” I scrabble in my bag, my heart racing. I can’t believe it. This was so easy!

As I fill in the form, I keep looking around for Sadie, but she’s nowhere to be seen. Where’s she gone? She’s missing the great moment!

“Here you are.” I thrust the form at Gi

“The lawyers said the next of kin weren’t interested in having her personal effects,” says Gi

“Oh.” I color. “My dad. And my uncle.”

“We’ve been holding on to them in case they changed their minds…” Gi

It’s the same wrinkled old lady from the other photo. She’s wrapped in a pink lacy shawl, and there’s a ribbon in her white candy floss hair. I feel a slight lump in my throat as I gaze at the picture. I just can’t relate this tiny, ancient, folded-up face to Sadie’s proud, elegant profile.

“Her hundred and fifth birthday, that was.” Gi

A birthday cake is in front of Sadie in this photo, and nurses are crowding into the picture with cups of tea and wide smiles and party hats. As I look at them, I feel a crawling shame. How come we weren’t there? How come she wasn’t surrounded by me and Mum and Dad and everyone?

“I wish I’d been there.” I bite my lip. “I mean… I didn’t realize.”

“It’s difficult.” Gi

I think back to Sadie’s miserable, empty little funeral and feel even worse.

“Er… kind of-Hey!” My attention is suddenly drawn by something in the photograph. “Wait! Is that it?”

“That’s the dragonfly necklace.” Gi

I take down the photo, light-headed with disbelief. There it is. Just visible, poking out of the folds of Great-Aunt Sadie’s shawl. There are the beads. There’s the rhinestone-studded dragonfly. Just as she described it. It’s real!

“I’m so sorry none of us could make the funeral.” Gi

We’ve arrived at a small storeroom lined with dusty shelves, and she hands me a shoe box. There’s an old metal-backed hairbrush inside, and a couple of old paperbacks. I can see the gleam of beads coiled up at the bottom.

“Is this all?” I’m taken aback, in spite of myself.

“We didn’t keep her clothes.” Gi

“But what about stuff from earlier in her life? What about… furniture? Or mementos?”

Gi

“Right.” Trying to hide my shock, I start unpacking the meager things. Someone lives for 105 years and this is all that’s left? A shoe box?

As I reach the jumble of necklaces and brooches at the bottom, I feel my excitement rising. I untangle all the strings of beads, searching for yellow glass, for a flash of rhinestones, for the dragonfly…

It’s not there.

Ignoring a sudden foreboding, I shake the tangle of beads out properly and lay them straight. There are thirteen necklaces in all. None of them is the right one.

“Gi

“Oh dear!” Gi

“I’m really after the dragonfly necklace.” I know I sound agitated. “Could it be anywhere else?”

Gi

“Harriet!” says Gi

Oh God. Why did she have to put it like that? I sound like some horrible grasping person out of Scrooge.

“I don’t want it for me,” I say hastily. “I want it for… a good cause.”

“It isn’t in Sadie’s box,” Gi

“Is it not?” Harriet looks taken aback. “Well, maybe it wasn’t in the room. Now you mention it, I don’t remember seeing it. I’m sorry, I know I should have taken an inventory. But we cleared that room in a bit of a rush.” She looks up at me defensively. “We’ve been so stretched…”

“Do you have any idea where it could have gone?” I look at them helplessly. “Could it have been put somewhere; could it have been given to one of the other residents…”

“The jumble sale!” pipes up a thin dark-haired nurse sitting in the corner. “It wasn’t sold by mistake at the jumble sale, was it?”

“What jumble sale?” I swivel around to face her.

“It was a fund-raiser, two weekends ago. All the residents and their families donated stuff. There was a bric-a-brac stall with lots of jewelry.”

“No.” I shake my head. “Sadie would never have donated this necklace. It was really special to her.”

“Like I say.” The nurse shrugs. “They were going from room to room. There were boxes of stuff everywhere. Maybe it was collected by mistake.”

She sounds so matter-of-fact, I suddenly feel livid on Sadie’s behalf.

“But that kind of mistake shouldn’t happen! People’s stuff should be safe! Necklaces shouldn’t just disappear!”

“We do have a safe in the cellar,” Gi

“It wasn’t valuable exactly, I don’t think. It was just… important.” I sit down, rubbing my forehead, trying to organize my thoughts. “So can we track it down? Do you know who was at this jumble sale?” Doubtful looks are exchanged around the room, and I sigh. “Don’t tell me. You have no idea.”