On a beautiful Sunday afternoon with the warm summer breeze blowing in and out of the hospital room, I found out that Becky's best friend, Amanda, was my great-grandmother. I wasn't angry, I was just shocked. My parents never told me anything about my grandparents. I wasn't even allowed to go visiting during the holidays. We always spent all the holidays together in our rickety old house. I enjoyed spending time with my parents back then because they were lovely and kind to each other and also to me but a part of me still yearn to know who my grandparents were. I knew they weren't dead because I could hear the phone calls mom made with them once in a while. It hurts that whenever I would bring up the topic of meeting them, my parents would get angry and toss it aside like it means nothing to them. I wondered what God was up to. Was this supposed to be an exciting turn of events for me? At that point, I desperately wanted to get into His mind and know what He was thinking
Even when I couldn't do that, I must say that God really did a good looking out. Now I can learn more about my heritage, about my family. A lesson my parents never thought it wise to indulge me in. But first, I had to come up with a good lie to get Amanda to believe that I didn't steal the necklace. And that was a brain-wracking problem. It was a lot more difficult because Amanda, not only appeared to be but was also very fiesty. I knew that whatever I said may be used against me if I didn't have proper information about this necklace and its prior owner. So my first plan was to indulge her in a conversation about her mother.
"So, I'm still waiting for an answer?"Amanda broke me out of my thoughts. "Becks seriously say something. Your silence is making me think that you stole this necklace from my mother!"
"Is your mother's necklace missing?" I asked
She looked puzzled and finally said with insincerity in her voice. "No, I don't know. Just tell me if you stole it?"
"How could I have stolen it? Why not call your mother and ask her if she still has her necklace? And if she says that she does, you will finally believe me when I tell you that I didn't steal it." I suggested. I prayed her mother's necklace was still with her. I still haven't thought of a decent lie to tell Amanda yet but I knew that it will all mean crap if her mother's necklace was not with her. So I had to be sure.
She looked at me for some time. To me, it appeared as if she was evaluating if this was a good idea or not. I could see a look of definite conclusion on her face and then she said. "Okay, fine. Let me call her." She then took out her phone to make the call.
She dialled her mother's number and left it on speaker. Her mom picked on the third ring.
"Hey sugar plum." the voice that sounded just like my mothers own came blaring from the phone. If I had any doubts that Amanda and her mother were related to me, it went with the wind. I stared at Amanda and I could feel some tears start to develop in my eyes. I blinked my eyes a few times because I did not want Amanda to notice my change in countenance. One thing was sure, if Amanda was my great grandmother then Amanda's mom will be my great great grandmother. It became clear to me that this was in fact supposed to be an exciting turn of events for me and I didn't fight the feeling of excitement that wash over me upon realizing that I have been blessed with the opportunity to finally learn about my family.
Amanda sighed. "Mom, stop calling me that. It can be embarrassing."
"Embarrassing? How can it be embarrassing when it's just a phone call between me and you darling"?
"But still mom..." Amanda went on to argue.
"Okay. How is Becky? Is she there? Put her on the phone, let me talk to her."
Amanda looked at me and I could see some judgement in her eyes or maybe it was fear. I didn't get a chance to completely decipher her look because she turned, backing me before I could even say, Jack. I started to feel disheartened but I quickly washed the feeling away. I believe she just didn't want her mother to talk to me because she feared I might give her some "sign language" to lie to her. Either that or she just wanted to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible and didn't need any distractions. "Mom, she is in the bathroom right now and she can't talk Mom, I need to ask you something."
"Okay darling, you sound a little bit upset. What is the problem? You can talk to me."
"Are you wearing your necklace right now?"
"Well, that's a weird question to be asking and definitely not what I was expecting. But honey, why are you suddenly interested in the necklace? You never cared about it before. I remember vividly you calling it an old piece of trash that should be thrown away?"
"Mom I'm not interested in it, I just want to know if it's with you right now."
"Okay, no need to be rude about it. Yes, yes, Amanda. In fact, I am wearing it right now. This necklace has never left my neck since my mom gave it to me and it won't till it's the right time."
"The right time? What do you mean by that?" If Amanda hadn't asked the question, I probably would have. We were met with dead silence at the other end of the line. And Amanda looked at me with disbelief and shock in her eyes and I could tell why. She was not expecting her mother to say all that. I kinda felt bad for Becky, if she was alive, I'm sure that she would be very hurt to know that her best friend had little or no trust in her. But considering the situation surrounding everything, I could not really blame Amanda for her actions. I just prayed that she won't start doubting everything I say. If she was not convinced that I didn't steal the necklace by now, her mother's next words did not help the situation at all.
"You know darling, now that you've asked. This necklace is one of a kind. Your grandmother gave it to me on a Wednesday as she lay on the hospital bed saying her last words. It has been passed down to the women in our generation for ages. Do you want to hear the story of how it came about?"
Amanda nodded and when she realized that her mother couldn't see her, with a tiny voice she replied "yes, please" and I sat down to listen to the story on my family's necklace.
"Okay, so it started from your ancestor Sandra Bill. She was a beautiful woman with a lot of strength and potential. She always had an eye for the finer things of life and when Will Harry mounted into town that afternoon with his horse, she knew she had to have him."
"So, she bought a nice dress and wore it to an evening dinner that she knew Mr Harry will be attending. She was so beautifully dressed to the point that all eyes, including that of Mr Harry, were on her during the dinner. He approached her and she gracefully kept the lovely conversation they had started going till the dinner was over. They didn't stop there, they continued to talk all night long and that was how they began their journey of love and it was blissful."
"A few weeks later, Will took her to a stream and proposed to her with a necklace. She hesitated to collect the necklace at first because it was very unlikely but when he told her that he had cut the Crescent Moon himself and took a diamond of 6 karats and placed it in the middle of the heart shape, she was a goner. She gladly accepted the necklace and agreed to marry him."
"Unfortunately they didn't get to stay married for long because two days later, a war started. The night before the war Will had taken the necklace, without Sandra's knowledge, to a witch and had her place a protective spell on the necklace. So that Sandra will be safe throughout the war."
"It was a sweet gesture and the next morning, the necklace was back on Sandra's neck and she noticed that the sparkling crystal clear diamond had turned to a crimson-red diamond. She wondered why and the letter beside her gave her the answer."
"The letter read, "my lovely Sandra, I am sorry that I have to leave you at such a crucial time but I am doing this for you and our unborn baby. Yes, my love, I know that you are with a child and I wish more than anything that I could be there to watch it grow. I hope it's a girl so that it will have a skin as clear as yours, a voice as sweet as yours, a mind as pure as yours, a character as elegant as yours, a heart as golden as yours and love as deeply as you do. A war is coming and I have been recruited to fight for our country, to fight for your safety and so I've left to go join the army in defending our country. I love you with everything in me and I will always be with you. Wear the necklace at all times. It will protect you, it will keep you safe and please pass it down to our generation and tell them of our story because it truly is a story to be told."
"After Sandra finished reading the letter, she ran out to look for her beloved but he was long gone. She was broken but she had to be strong for her child. Later that afternoon, the war started. Many died but Sandra managed to survive even though a bomb was denoted in the same house she was inside."
"After the war, she waited for her beloved to come back to her and on the day she gave birth to her daughter, she got the sad news that he died fighting for his country. When she was about to die, she passed the necklace down to her daughter and the necklace has been passed down from generation to generation since then."
Amanda's mother ended her story and I finally understood why mom could never give me the necklace when she was alive. It was only to be passed down when you are about to die. It still didn't explain why she didn't tell me this story.
After listening to the story, my mind started racing with a series of questions. The most predominant of them all was if the necklace was meant to protect us, why then did my mother die and why did I also die while wearing the necklace still? I couldn't get an answer because Amanda spoke up, leaving me with no chance to indulge her mother in more stories about my past.
"Thank you, Mom. I'll talk to you later." She ended the call and looked at me. I could see the anger in her eyes and her voice confirmed her feelings. "Well, as you heard this necklace is one of a kind so tell me how you got it?"
Shit, I still have to answer that question. "I got it at a junk store."
"A what?" She asked with disbelief.
"It's actually a very funny story." I laughed and threw my hands up in the air as I got ready to lie to my great-grandmother. "So I'm walking down the street on my way to get a cheeseburger and this guy pulls me into this junk store. He tells me that the necklace will look good on me and he places it on my neck and leaves."
"And you wore it ever since?"
"Well, you have to admit that it is very beautiful. I couldn't bring myself to take it off."
She walked close to me till her face was so close to my mind, I could feel her breath on my face. "Is that the truth?"
I didn't blink, I didn't change the pace of my breathing and I gave her an honest lie. "Yes"
Mom walked in and I was grateful for the release of the tension in the air.
"What's going on here?" Mom asked when she saw our faces so close to each other. When none of us said anything, she inquired again. She must have noticed the way Amanda kept staring at me. Because Amanda was doing absolutely nothing to hide it.
"Nothing ma. I was just leaving." Amanda finally moved away from me and went to pick up her handbag.
"Well, I hope it's not because of me?"
Amanda smiled and replied "no, ma. My mom just wants me to run an errand for her. I will see you later Becks. Byeee" and she was gone.
Mom looked at the door closed and then she turned and asked me, "Is she alright?"
"I don't know. I'm going to the bathroom now."
In the bathroom, I turned on the water and splashed some on my face. I looked at myself in the mirror with the necklace hanging from my neck and I knew I had to know more about my ancestors. I wanted to talk to Amanda's mother about it, but after the event of today, I knew that Amanda would be really pissed if she got to find out about it. So I turned to the next best thing, books.
Before mom left, I asked her if she could drive me to a library. She hesitated at first but I finally managed to convince her. When night came, I did not sleep. I managed to sneak out of the hospital and headed towards the town's library. I stayed up all night researching ancient history. In one of the books, I saw a story about The Bills. I found out that the necklace has helped a lot of my ancestors survive terrible conditions.
One of them survived an earthquake because she was wearing the necklace.
One was able to survive a tornado. Amazing things happened because of the necklace but the was a downside to it. The witch only asked for one thing from Mr Will Harry and that is that our linkage will only have one female child and no boy and of course Mr Harry accepted.
But that wasn't my problem. I just hoped that this necklace would help me survive whatever calamity is going to befall this city.