Her House Settled
Grandma Minnie
Minnie blinked with entertained eyes, setting her coffee, nearly wobbling, onto the very edge of a coaster. She spent a great deal of time correcting it before she looked back at me.
“And this, well, this Isabelle of yours will arrive in a few days?” Her hands never stopped moving. Busy, busy, busy. She was pulling open a beige jar on the table now, crinkling the candies inside before finding one suitable. She looked at the wrapper, checking and turning it.
I hummed a yes, sheepish. This was not the way I wanted her to find out. I was hoping she could meet Isabelle under different circumstances. She started rolling the hard candy around in her mouth.
Named Minnie “like Minnie Mouse!” she’d squeal at me as a child. “Your Grandma Minnie loves you so much!” I’d dance and watch old cartoons with her. I’d pull my CD player out to her living room and put Roger Miller on repeat. She would smile, sitting on the edge of her seat as I wobbled with my skinny, unsure legs. She would hold my hands to steady me.
“Are you sure this is what you want?” Her eyes were so harsh, so steadfast. She was expecting me to give in at some point. Just say this whole thing was a joke and call it off.
She hoped it was all a joke.
I never understood how some people were together. Minnie was so bright and excitable, and Grandpa Jake was a real bastard. He rolled his own cigars and pulled the towels from the closet until the whole stack was ruined. I watched as his hands destroyed everything he touched.
He smiled a smile that told every guest they had to be careful, to back off. I never did enjoy his company. I’m not sure he was happy with his daughter having a girl in the first place.
He left his ashtrays on the kitchen table, until Minnie was rolling her eyes. “Oh, I’m sure Minnie Mouse will be fine!” He’d sneer at her. “A little ash never hurt anything.”
Minnie would stare at the table, a frown around her lips, but would fake a smile and excuse herself.
“You know what this means, right?” I was startled by her sudden surety.
I shook my head slowly.
“I can’t welcome you - or her - into my home. You know this is unnatural,” The words strung together like lights in my head, flashing and breaking. “God will never love you if you decide to marry her.”
I smile despite the painful words. “I’m sorry to hear that.” I didn’t say anything else, letting the quiet hang.
She made a face like she’d licked a lemon. “That’s it?” The candy was rolling in her mouth, clicking against her teeth, faster, faster.
I shrugged. I’d been dating Isabelle for seven years. It was time to announce it, if ever there was one. I was holding my breath.
“You’d throw me away? For a single relationship?” I wince at the words. I just can’t imagine that this is in any way fair. Relationships shouldn’t be for anyone else but yourself.
“No. I would love to keep you,” I try not to let the tears out. This can’t really be her. Somewhere we were still dancing in that living room together.
“No, and that’s final. What you’re doing is disgusting. I’d always hoped better for you.”
The silence hung around us. The cuckoo clock at the end of the hall chimed.
I never said it, but I’m sure all the memories around us whispered:
I’d always hoped better for you, too.
About the Creator
Lisa Herdman
I'm learning to be wildly inappropriate, ridiculous, needy - and alive.
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Comments (12)
Excellent and Deserved Top Story, we are featuring this in the Vocal Social Society Community Adventure on Facebook and world love for you to join us there
https://vocal.media/01/why-sinus-is-so-common-in-pakistan-s914p0hph read mine too please :)
beautiful 💖🌸
Nice story!
Such emotion in your words, such depth. Very nice story. I liked the length of it, so often people forget about the beauty in a short story. Congratulations on Top Story!
Short, heartbreaking, yet so quietly strong. Thanking you for sharing this piece. ❤'d and subscribed.
An emotional, believable and well-told story. Well done!
Great story. Really well written.
Nice storytelling ❤️
Very realistic and sad. Excellent details and well written
Wow.❤️ What a deeply moving, heartbreaking experience this story tells 😭. Thank you for writing this, putting words to these all-too-common feelings of unbelievable rejection.❤️
the heartbreak in this story, experienced by so many, feared be so many more. To watch families who accept, love & are happy for one another is such a blessing & joy. To watch those who suffer under the heavy hand of intolerance & know that you can never free them from their pain, you can only offer to walk & be with them, love & care for them. That's true for both sides, though the intolerance fills me with anger, hurt & disbelief. I'm a retired elder in The United Methodist Church. My wife is a certified lay minister (& a much better pastor than I ever was). For fifty years we've lived with the restrictive language in our Book of Discipline, condemning homosexuality, denying ordination to those who are not celibate (even when they're in a monogamous relationship--oftentimes, even when they are celibate), & refusing to allow our clergy to perform or even bless gay marriages. With each General Conference I would find myself wondering, "Why does our church insist on defining itself as a hate group?" Now, with the writing on the wall that the removal of the restrictive language is immanent, our denomination is splitting in two. Conservatives/Traditionalists will claim they are just being true to God's redeeming & sanctifying grace, even as they deny to others the grace they so boldly proclaim for themselves. There's a part of me that really resents having to hold onto the knowledge that God still loves them & God's grace is still for them. It's a little easier (but also more painful), knowing how much I love & care for so many of them. Our son was gay. It seemed fairly evident from an early age, but we weren't about to tell him that he was. So many people had assumed that I was gay (psychological testing has shown my heterosexuality to be off the charts, something those who know me even only fairly well will attest--yet that didn't concern my Board of Ordained Ministry!), that we weren't about to assume for him. We just wanted him to be happy & know how much we loved (& always love him). The last few days I've been thinking about all the churches I've served, colleagues & friends who simply want to brand him & anyone else of the LGBTQIA+ community with a scarlet letter. They would insist they'd never do that. Most would welcome such individuals into their church, even into their circle of friends, all the while praying for their salvation! But they wouldn't be allowed to lead (in some places, not even direct the choir or play the organ), certainly not as pastor, especially not as ordained, & most certainly not as married. And if God did not manage to change their sexual orientation, or at least grant them the strength to be celibate, if they did not repent of their "wicked & abominable ways", sorry, but they're going to hell. That's what my oldest brother told me about my son when I posed the question directly to him. That's what my mother said to me when I was in seminary simply for disagreeing with her on the subject. I'm pretty sure the only thing that ever would have changed her mind would have been if either her eldest son or eldest daughter had identified in one way or another as part of the community. There were eight of us kids. I'm not sure the other six of us would have been allowed in her home. (She once took every picture of every one of her children who attended her in-law's funeral off the wall, just because she hated her mother-in-law. It was the only time I could remember being the "favorite son". She didn't let us know until the day of the funeral when it was too late for us to make it.) I'm sorry for going on so long about this. Can you tell that you triggered me, pushed some of my buttons? I love your article, beyond words. It's simple, straightforward, & extremely powerful, in large part because of how simple & direct it is. It just makes me so upset & angry that this is the experience so many have--& that the church I love & serve bears pretty much the greatest guilt for it (society/culture/norms might rank higher). But my heart breaks open, pouring out love, hope & appreciation with complete abandon for people like you who, whether you're a part of the community or simply accept, love & support those who are, open your hearts so freely, wildly & widely. Thank you for writing this. If my comments had been written on paper, they would arrive to you stained with tears. As it is, may you simply know that the tears are there.