Grandma’s House

Ally stands in the middle of the hall of her grandmother’s house. It belongs to her 90-year-old grandmother, Tamara. The hall doesn’t look very big now. Ally remembers how it seemed very big when she was five years old. She thought that the hall was the biggest part of the house. That was ten years ago. Now she is a young woman. This is the home Tamara was married in. She had her two children there: Ally’s father and her aunt. All were born here. Old photos of her father as a young boy hang on the wall. Photos of Ally hang there, too. There are pictures of her in the hospital on the day she was born. There’s also a photo of her father in the hospital at the age of 5. Ally doesn’t know why he was in the hospital. Today, the family is packing all these photos away. They are packing up everything and moving out. Tamara‘s too old to take care of herself now. She is moving to their house. They will live together from now on. Ally walks down the stairs and removes framed photographs of her father as a teenager. She puts them in boxes. When she takes the photos off the wall, they leave white, clean squares on the wallpaper behind them. When Ally was a very young girl, she looked at these photos of her father. Her father looked so old. Ally goes into the living room and stands in front of the fireplace. She remembers a wonderful memory. It was a cold Christmas night. Everybody was sitting in the living room. It was very crowded because all the family members wanted to be together at Tamara’s house that Christmas. Tamara made some delicious desserts for them. They were all sitting in front of the fire when her grandmother stood up and walked to the piano. She started playing Ally’s favourite song. They all sang the song while Tamara was playing it. They were all very happy. It was one of the happiest days in Ally’s life. The memories of this old house are not only Ally’s memories. They’re Tamara’s, her father’s and all the other family members’ memories. Now, the house will have new owners and new memories. She looks around the living room and the house. She says goodbye to this old home.