The Old Picture

by
Sadie Parter

“Grandma?” 8-year-old Amelia inquired of her Grandmother Andrea, “What is this picture?”

Andrea (better known as Andi) laughed at the picture her granddaughter was holding. “Want to know the story behind it?” She asked.

Amelia nodded, and Andi began...

~~~

“You want to come with me to the attic?” Melinda’s voice was muffled by the food stuffed in her mouth.

Mouth-watering pancakes drizzled in warm syrup and melting butter tempted Andi to stay, but she willingly replied “sure” and reluctantly left the breakfast table to follow Melinda up the stairs. It was drizzling outside, the rain shimmering down the roof and gathering in puddles on the ground. Justin was in San Francisco (again!), and Chad and Mitch were on some boring errand in town.

Andi wished she could be romping with Shasta and Taffy in the mud. It was a perfect day for playing outside, but here she was, cooped up with Melinda, following her to, most likely, her death sentence. With utter disgust, Andi hated “searching” through the attic. It mostly ended up with them both piling through cobwebs and never finding anything interesting.

But this time, Melinda had a surprise. When they got to the attic, Melinda excitedly pulled back a curtain draped across a rusty, worn chest.

Oh, a chest full of old family photos and treasures!! Andi thought, excitement growing as Melinda and her unlocked the “treasure” chest.

Who knows what they would find in there?

~~~

About half an hour later, the sounds coming from the attic were giggling, laughing, and girls bursting out in hysterical laughing.

The Carter sisters were finding old baby clothes, pictures of them as babies, photo scrapbooks, old knitting or sewing projects, and random family photos of things like their grandpa as a kid, their great-grandmother as a kid, and things like that.

I guess it’s okay in here... Andi thought, to her surprise.

Then, what they found next was... a picture of Andi in a weird hat Aunt Rebecca (Andi’s snobby old aunt that she disliked with a passion) must have given to her that was most likely the latest fashion in those days.

And just a minute later, Andi found a picture of a young . . .

“Katherine?” Andi gasped in astonishment. It couldn’t possibly be their mother, but Kate would never put on a hat like that. In a few seconds, Andi was racing down the stairs, with Melinda at her heels, to show Mother their new discovery.

~~~

Elizabeth Carter wiped her hands on her apron and held the photos to get a closer look at them. She laughed. “What on earth? Where did you find this?”

Melinda giggled. “In an old chest in the attic,” she announced proudly, a big grin smeared all over her face.

Andi rolled her eyes.  She pointed to the pictures. “That’s me,” she said, gesturing to the picture of her in the old hat, “and that’s . . . Kate, right?”

Mother laughed for a while, and when she finally collected herself she said, “No, it’s not Katherine. But I never knew there was such a resemblance between Rebecca and Kate!”

WHAT? Old, persnickety Aunt Rebecca? Like Kate? No way!

Mother took the picture of Aunt Rebecca. “Mind if I keep this one?” she asked.

Andi shook her head. “No, go ahead.”

“You can keep the one of you,” Mother said.

Andi didn’t want to, but she kept it, anyway. Her kids might laugh out loud when they saw this picture one day.

~~~

“And that’s how it all happened,” Grandma Andi finished. By the end, Amelia and Andi were laughing.

“That’s funny.” Amelia smiled. “I hope you have more stories like that under your sleeve.”

They both laughed. Again.