Little Birdie

Audrey finished up her knitting in expectation of her visitors arriving.  Lately, she had taken to listening to their conversations through the speakerphone as they arrived into the entry foyer of her little unit.

She had discovered her aid to snooping by accident soon after taking over the lease on her new unit, she had pressed the button, wondering what it was for and surprisingly had heard birds singing outside of the door.  In amazement she had pressed it again and realised that it was actually the speaker that sat next to the doorbell.

She had recently gotten into the habit of listening in to the conversations her visitors had on the doorstep while they were waiting for her to buzz them up past the main doors. 

She had not really cared whether they liked her or not before.  Just knew that they would continue to visit because she had a large amount of money invested after the sale of her beloved home.

It had broken her heart to say goodbye to the only home that she could remember, with Fred gone the light in the house had seemed to go out.  Fred was the family man; the children seemed to be drawn to him, the adults likewise were always happy to sit around chatting with him.  Audrey had always found it difficult, conversation with her had been stilted and the long silences were often finished with, “well, I might as well see what grandad is up to in the garden.”  The visitor, once again would leave to be treated to the latest gardening tip that Fred had discovered.

It seemed that sensing how much sadness the house held after Fred had passed away, the children had not visited as much as she would have liked.  Her days had become empty and she had realised how lonely she was. That was when she thought up the scheme to sell the house, and to rent a small unit so she could invest the money and hold it over her family.

She had managed to let slip the amazing figure that the developer had offered to buy her home, although it may have been a number a little higher than what she had actually sold it for.  She could clearly remember the look of greed in her grandchildren’s eyes when she had mentioned the figure and that she would now be able to keep them in line.

Audrey had had a suspicion for some time the lack of good feelings her family held for her, but to overhear the depth of their dislike for her had come as quite a shock initially. Audrey had never been good at making friends, even at school she had been the child in the library reading by herself.

It had been an incredible surprise when Fred had asked her to dance with him at the high school formal. Audrey had been shy and uncomfortable the entire evening, yet amazingly Fred had danced with her all night. The next morning, she had resigned herself to the fact that Fred had taken pity on the unattractive wallflower for the night and that would be the end of it.

The next day, Fred had come to visit and every day after that until she had agreed to become his wife. Fred had been the sort of young fellow that everyone wanted to be around. He had an intensity that made you feel that he really cared about what people were saying. He had a inquisitive mind and he loved to hear others talk. While it Fred’s personality didn’t quite rub off on Audrey she was all the better for being around him.

Last week her granddaughter, Marion and her children had come to visit.  Marion was her oldest granddaughter and Audrey had always had a very special place for her.  She had been there with her beloved Sophie when she had given birth to the child.  In fact, had been the first to hold the new baby when she was born.

Sophie had not lived to see her daughter grow older and have her own children and for the most part Audrey had taken on the role of mother for Marion.

Marion’s two girls were quite decent, as far as teenagers go nowadays.  Up until overhearing that fateful conversation on her doorstep Audrey had always thought that they at least showed respect.

They had come to visit on a Tuesdays.  Audrey always liked to take visitors in the early afternoon. It was convenient for her.  It had been about half past three as Marion picked the girls up from school before calling in at her grandmother’s on the way home.

Audrey had pressed the button to activate the speaker that sat next to the door and she had overheard Gabriel, the eldest daughter at fifteen whining about having to visit her great grandmother. “Why do I have to come mum? It’s not like she even cares if we are there or not”

“Because she is your great grandmother, do you think I like visiting her myself?”  Was her reply.  “If you don’t visit, Gabe and she kicks the bucket you won’t get anything from her will.”

“The old bat is probably having a good laugh at our expense.”  The other daughter Janine grumbled.  “She probably doesn’t even have any money left, look at what she got me for Christmas last year!”

Audrey then heard Marion grumble something under her breath that her ears couldn’t quite catch but it sounded like she said something about better than the roll of toilet paper she had gotten for her fiftieth birthday.

Audrey had been stunned.  Admittedly she didn’t put much thought into the presents.  She was so frightened of the money running out that she tended to skimp a little on gifts.  What then would make her family visit if not for the money that she had saved up?  If it were all gone Audrey could imagine the lonely life that she would lead then without any visitors.

At the door today, she listened to Graham her grandson, his wife Janice and their son Mathew. 

As she pressed her ear to the speaker she heard Mathew whining about the jumper that he was wearing.

“It is so too tight mum!”  He moaned.  “Why do I have to wear it?”

“Because your great grandmother bought it, and it will make her happy to see you wearing it.”

“But it is yellow, girl’s colours.”

“Well you can take it off just as soon as you get to the car.  Just put up with it for half an hour, that is all I ask.”

Audrey sighed, tired of hearing people complain about her gifts for them.  She opened the door and pasted a welcoming smile on her face.

“Hello everybody!”  She said as ushered them into her small unit.

“Hello Mathew.”  She said as she placed a kiss on the small boys forehead.  “Boy, aren’t you hot in that jumper you are wearing, why don’t you take it off and cool down a little, besides it looks a little small on you.”  She said, just catching the knowing look that passed between mother and son.

“You know what I think?”  Audrey asked as she folded up Mathew’s very bright yellow jumper.  “I think that I am not very good at picking out presents at all, am I?”

“How about we meet in town on Saturday and you can pick out something you like?”

Mathew’s eyes nearly fell out of his head with shock and Audrey watched his mother nearly fall over.

It gave Audrey such a nice feeling to be looked at with anything other than disdain she decided she might continue it further, looking at Janice and Graham.  “Why don’t we all meet in town, I will spring for lunch and you can help me with all of your families Christmas presents.”  Graham seemed utterly speechless with the last sentence.  “Besides,” Audrey continued as she put the pot of tea on the table.  “Over lunch we can have ourselves a nice little chat.”

Audrey thought that Graham and Janet were a lot more patient with her this visit, well certainly there was not as many eyes rolled over her head as usual.

After thirty minutes they started making moves to leave.  Audrey pulled Graham close and gave him a firm kiss as he left.  It is high time, she thought that we started to make amends.  So much time wasted, worrying about money.  She kissed Janet and Matthew good bye as well and thought that maybe there was not so much hesitation in the boy as usual.

A week later Marion, Gabe and Janine visited. Unable to help herself Audrey listened at the door again while they waited. 

“..tell you right now if she is going to start giving it away to Graham she damned better start giving some to me as well.”  Audrey heard enough of the conversation and didn’t want to listen any more.

She yanked the door open to a surprised Marion, still in mid sentence.

“Hello” She welcomed them in warmly, putting her best smile on her face and she watched the surprised expressions on all three of her visitors as they walked into her cosy little lounge room and saw all the gifts on the table.

“I decided to have an early Christmas.”  Audrey said with a smile as she watched the children exclaiming over all of their presents.

“surely, you won’t mind if I spend a bit of your inheritance on you?”  She said.  “I mean, what is the use of giving it all to you if I can’t see you enjoy it?” 

“But why, grandmother?”  Marion asked worriedly.

“Because I want to see you all enjoy the money, it is no use being squirreled away for you to fight over once I am gone.”  She said, watching Marion’s guilty look.

“This is certainly unexpected” The younger woman said, sweeping her arms in an expansive gesture.  “I still don’t understand.”

“Well just say,” Audrey smiled.  “A little birdy gave me the idea!”