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Only Marigold Tea

Will cure what ails thee

By Colleen Millsteed Published 3 years ago 5 min read
9
Only Marigold Tea
Photo by Loverna Journey on Unsplash

“Grandma, Grandma, are you home?” I called.

I’m met with silence, which is strange as Grandma knew I was coming over this afternoon.

I tried the door and found it unlocked. That worried me even more as Grandma was a stickler for security and safety, especially with all the nasty business going on between her and Dad. I know she is concerned that Dad is going to physically hurt her, which is why I’m here today. I want to reassure her that even though Dad is doing some weird shit right now, he would never hurt his own Mother.

I open the door slowly, calling out as I enter the house, “Grandma, it’s me, Bobby. Are you here?” I hear a strange gurgle coming from the lounge room. As I turn the corner I see Grandma laying on the floor, foaming at the mouth.

Oh my god, Grandma. I rush to her side and see she is trying to say something. Foam is slowly running down the side of her mouth and her arms and legs are twitching. “Poisoned, need Marigold Tea”, she stutters.

I’m not sure I heard her right. Did she really say Marigold Tea? Grandma grows Marigolds in her garden but I’ve never seen her do anything with them, other than put some in a vase on the dinner table.

I snatch my phone from my pocket and goggle search, Marigold Tea. I’m surprised to find there is actually a tea you can make from Marigolds.

Apparently it’s very easy if you grow your own Marigolds. Simply put two marigolds into a cup and cover with 50 C warm water. Steep for ten seconds and pour off the brew. This is to wash the dust and dirt away. After this you fill the cup with 85 C hot water and steep for three minutes.

I check again on Grandma and she is still the same, no worse but definitely no better.

I flick the switch on the kettle and slam through the back door to Grandma’s gorgeous flower garden. I snatch a couple of Marigold flowers and dash back inside.

I follow the instructions on the internet to a tee and find the end result is a beautiful golden colour tea which smelled suspiciously like chrysanthemums. I do hope I understood Grandma’s words correctly.

I rush back to Grandma’s side with the Marigold Tea and gently lift her head off the floor so she can take a sip. I’m spilling more on her, than I’m getting in her mouth, as she is jerking around everywhere. Eventually, she gurgles and let’s me know she’s had enough. I think I got about half a cup of tea past her lips.

I sit back and can already notice a slight improvement in Grandma but it’s another half an hour before she can sit up with my help. I watch her carefully and wait until she’s ready to talk, although I’m bursting with questions I want answered.

Gradually Grandma looks up at me and thanks me for saving her life. She explains that she had eaten a piece of chocolate cake, when she started to feel nauseous. She recognised the taste and realised she had been poisoned. Thankfully I had come along and trusted her words and brewed the Marigold Tea, which so happens to be the only cure. Another hour and she would have been dead.

I couldn’t believe this was happening. I had come around specifically to assure her that Dad would not hurt her physically and I find that he has poisoned his own Mother. I knew my Dad was not a good person but even this was too low for him to stoop surely. But it had to be Dad, who else could it be?

Grandma asked me to organise to have my Mum, Dad and Aunt Jilly come over tomorrow at 4pm. Grandma told me I couldn’t say anything to anyone about what happened today and if asked, say I have no idea what the meeting is about. I didn’t like it but I agreed as it would be safer to confront Dad with everyone here to protect Grandma.

I make sure Grandma was definitely alright before taking my leave, telling her I’d see her tomorrow.

I do as Grandma asked and I let everyone know about the meeting.

We all manage to get to Grandma’s at the same time the next day and we enter to find Grandma has set up the table for afternoon tea. In the middle of the table is a beautiful chocolate cake with a single slice missing.

I’m shocked to see the cake there, knowing it’s what poisoned Grandma yesterday. What is she planning? Is she going to try to poison Dad with his own cake? Can’t see that working.

We all say our hello’s and sit down when Grandma starts cutting up the chocolate cake. She asks Mum if she’d like a piece. “Just a small slice please”, Mum responds. Next she asks Dad if he’d like a piece and I was shocked when he said yes. What is going on here? Maybe he’ll just pretend to eat it.

Grandma asks Aunt Jilly if she’d like a piece, since she had baked the delicious cake. Aunt Jilly was looking awfully pale and declined a piece explaining that she wasn’t feeling very well.

I look at Grandma in confusion as this means that my sweet Aunt Jilly is the one that tried to poison Grandma. I was stunned, but jumped up and rushed around to pin Aunt Jilly to her chair.

Grandma asked my Dad to please ring the police and went on to explain what had happened. Aunt Jilly was furious because she firmly believed my Dad would be blamed for Grandma’s death, as he was always the one arguing with his mother.

Aunt Jilly was known to never argue with anyone and yet she was obviously hiding some serious grudge against her Mother, as she’d just tried to kill her. Would we ever get to the bottom of the reason why?

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About the Creator

Colleen Millsteed

My first love is poetry — it’s like a desperate need to write, to free up space in my mind, to escape the constant noise in my head. Most of the time the poems write themselves — I’m just the conduit holding the metaphorical pen.

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Comments (2)

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  • Cathy holmes2 years ago

    Good story. Well done.

  • Your stories always pull me in right from the start! And I need to know what was the reason. I need part 2

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