Grandmas- what would we do without them

I woke up on Tuesday night at about 11.30 and realised that the power had gone out. It was raining pretty hard so I assumed, in my logical mind, that it was just due to the weather. My illogical mind assumed that it was the car thieves we had seen the day before. They had cut our electricity and were either about to break into the house or were already hiding somewhere waiting for me. Geez. I knew I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep until I walked through the house, made sure everything was secure and that the burglar alarm was still on.

J was still in the hospital and I'm not brave enough to get up in the middle of the night and walk around a dark house all by myself. What to do? Ah! I decided to ring someone in the States and keep them on the phone with me while I checked everything out. God bless the time difference. Tried Kellie, not in. Tried Nikki, not in. Uh oh. I was going to have to ring Mom and Dad's house. I knew they were both at work but my grandmother lives with them and I knew Grandma would answer the phone. Grandma, God bless her, can be a bit dingy. It's not just an old age thing, she's always been a bit like that but it has become more pronounced with age. She also has trouble understanding my Texan/English accent so I have to lay on the drawl nice and thick when I talk to her.

Just then I heard a sound downstairs that could've been rain against a window or a glasscutter being used. OK, Grandma it is. So I called, explained the situation and got up to check out the house. Grandma was making conversation in my ear - family news, asking after Jason, etc. Then, just as I started to head down the dark staircase she decided to change topic.

You must imagine this with a thick, elderly Texan accent - 'Did your Mom tell you about the serial killer we had down here?' I stopped on the stairs thinking surely she wasn't going to tell me about their serial killer right now. Yep, she was. 'He'd break into houses where he knew women were home all alone. He killed three but the fourth one, she was a fighter and he didn't kill her.' I continued doing my rounds of the house, desperately trying to tune out the details of Grandma's story. 'She's in the hospital and they think she's gonna live but he got away. They're still looking for him.'

By then I had finished my circuit and everything was shipshape and secure. Time to wrap this conversation up. I went back upstairs and thanked Grandma for her help. She ended the call with 'Don't worry, baby. Jason will be home in a couple of days to keep the boogers away'. I felt like I was about ten and knew that this story would be circulating among our large extended family by dawn.

I said goodnight to Grandma, hung up the phone, got back under the covers and was just about to doze off when I remembered Grandma's voice - 'They're still looking for him'. Somehow I did manage to sleep, but it wasn't easy.