The night ran away from us, and I wanted to let Dad go to bed. Sophia also needed to go home, but there was something I longed to do but never had the courage to do solo. Had I asked Mama to accompany me, she would have been thrilled, but she would have made it about herself. I had no specific reason for feeling that night was the night, but I wanted to take the chance and hoped Sophia would be open to it. She made me brave.
“Hey, ummm…I know it’s getting late, and you need to get to bed, but would you mind if we made a quick stop in Newcrest?”
A glimmer appeared in her eyes.
“Your mom’s house?”
“Ha! No. Well…not exactly.”
As we left Dad’s house, she gave me a suspicious look. An unusual feeling of guilt came over me when we got to Newcrest. It felt weird being in the same city as my mom but not going to see her. I watched Sophia closely for any signs of unease as we reached our destination, the cemetery.
“What are we doing here?” she asked curiously.
At least she wasn’t afraid.
“I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time, but I haven’t been brave enough to come alone.”
She nodded and grabbed my hand. Though I hadn’t been there in many years, I found my grandparents’ graves as if I had visited every weekend.
“This is my family,” I said. “My grandparents, my mom’s dogs…”
She peered at all the graves, reading the epitaphs, silently getting to know everyone.
“Gammy—that’s what I called my grandmother. She died a day or two before my child birthday. I don’t remember her because I was so young, but I know I loved her. I can remember that, but not her. Isn’t that weird?”
“Not at all. Love is powerful like that.”
“Yeah… I guess it is. My mom brought us here once. Well, twice, but I was way too young to remember the first time. I’ve wanted to come back here ever since to see if I could meet her. Maybe she could tell me about our life together.”
Sweet Sophia threw her arm around my waist.
“I hope she shows up.”
The bitter cold cut through us as we stood around waiting for something to happen. To pass the time, I read the epitaphs on the graves too, since it had been a while. I noticed there were only two dog graves, not three. Mama must still have Tofu in the house with her. I understood why she’d keep her, but that couldn’t have been healthy. Not only was it a constant reminder of her death, but also what if her ghost showed up? Was it really helpful to carry on with a ghost as if nothing happened?
Speaking of ghosts, one dog came out of the grave in a cloud of smoke. He stood on the plot for a while, taking in his surroundings and paying us no mind.
“Who is that?” Sophia asked.
“I don’t know. Never met that one. I vaguely remember the one I used to know.”
Out of nowhere, someone grabbed me from behind and threw their arms around me. I thought Sophia had become unexpectedly emotional, but it turned out to be my Gammy!
“Is that my baby??” she shouted.
“Gammy?!”
I embraced her back, squeezing as tight as I could, not believing my eyes. She looked just like she did in all my pictures…minus being transparent, of course.
“What are you doing out here in this cold??” she scolded.
I laughed. That was such a grandma question.
“I came to see you, Gammy!”
“You sure picked a doozy!”
It was strange that I couldn’t recall her voice, yet it sounded oddly familiar.
“You’ve been on my mind a lot lately,” I said, “but I don’t really remember you. Only that I loved you a lot. I thought if I came here, I could meet you and you could tell me about life before…ummm… Oh, this is my girlfriend!”
Sophia waved.
“I’m Sophia! It’s really good to meet you.”
“Well, aren’t you beautiful,” Gammy said. “And so polite and well-spoken! You did good, handsome!”
My face was already red from it being so cold, but if it wasn’t, I’m sure I would have blushed. This was so freaky! I’d been a fan of this woman my whole life without knowing her, and now she floated before me, giving out compliments like candy.
“I’ve gotta call Mama! She’s gonna freak out!”
Gammy swatted at me.
“Uh uh! She can come see me anytime! I want you all to myself!”
I put my phone away.
“Yes ma’am!”
“Tell me everything! Where do you live? What do you do? How did you meet this pretty young thing??”
I began my tale in Mt. Komorebi, right after my birthday, right before I almost knocked down Sophia from running inside to get out of the storm. I told her about falling in love with yoga and moving to San Sequoia with Dad all the way to moving in with Sophia.
She high-fived Sophia.
“YES, girl! These men don’t know what they want. Sometimes we gotta tell ’em what they want! I am not mad at this! Not at all! You got you a real one, baby! She’s gonna keep you in line!”
We all laughed. She was so spunky. It was easy to envision Less and I having a blast with her.
“Your grandson doesn’t need keeping in line, though,” Sophia said.
Gammy gazed at me.
“Don’t I know it. He’s a proper gentleman, just like his daddy. How’s he doing, anyway?”
“He’s good. Getting ready to retire. And…uhhh…he’s making friends.”
“Good for him! Watcher knows he needs something good after your mama shred him to pieces!”
Mama’s other dog woke up and began barking. His volume was incredibly loud and terrifying! I’d never been so startled in all my life.
“What the hell is that??”
“Shush, Hunter! We have company! Ol’ loud self!”
“Was he mean?” I asked.
“That ol’ Casanova? He’s just loud and don’t know how to act! Your mama spoiled him rotten and didn’t teach him a thing!”
She was so colorful. Her powerful presence made it clear how I could still love her with no memories. She was just one of those sims that made a huge impression.
“I see y’all over there freezing,” she said. “Go on and get outta here, now. Come back and see me when it’s warm!”
As much as I wanted to whine and say something akin to “five more minutes,” I couldn’t deny how good dusty ol’ Oasis Springs sounded. Besides, I promised Sophia it would be a quick stop, so I threw my arms around Gammy again and said goodbye.
“I’m so glad I got a chance to reconnect with you,” I said. “I’ll be back. I promise.”
“Maybe next time you come, she’ll be your wife!” She turned toward Sophia. “You like how I did that? I got you, girl!”
So meddling was a family trait, huh? Got it.
While leaving the cemetery, we overheard Gammy fussing at Hunter, and it was the funniest thing I’d heard all day.
“She was so fun,” Sophia said.
“Right? We have to go see Mama tomorrow and tell her about this.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Look, I know I said I wasn’t ready, but honestly, it doesn’t feel right trying to hide something this big from her. Everyone but her knows about you now. I’ll deal with whatever she throws at us.”
She held my hand.
“If you say so.”
