I’ve been suspicious of Grandma ever since the story she told me.
“Sit back, make yourself comfy and cozy up underneath the blankets.”
I nestled my head into the pillow as Grandma spoke these instructions. The ones prefacing a bedtime story that me and my two sisters were obsessed with.
“Once upon a time, in a land filled with monsters and ghouls, lived a beautiful princess. She lived in a great big castle, deep in the forest…”
Grandma’s friendly smile lit up our bedroom, with her small dainty hands clutching her mug of cranberry tea.
“The princess had beautiful dresses, and beautiful animals and beautiful jewellery - but was very lonely. The king & queen never let her leave the castle or talk to other people, so when they died, the princess had nobody to talk to.”
Grandma pulled a big sad face when she told this detail. One prompting an orchestra of sympathetic ‘awws’ from her audience of grandchildren. Grandpa then chirped in from the room next door, asking if we’d like a mug of cranberry tea too.
“One day a knight came riding in from the town on his black horse. He was so handsome. The princess fell in love as soon as she saw him from her castle window. The knight told her about all the monsters he’d slain, but that there were too many out there, that he needed to hide.”
We would all thank grandpa as he brought in our tea. Giving Grandma a kiss before announcing he was going to put the animals on the farm away.
“The princess was so charmed by the knight, she told him to stay in her castle with her. The monsters would come looking for the knight, their screeching sirens surrounding the castle, but they never found him.”
Grandpa came back from feeding the animals and went to clean his car in the garage - his beloved black mustang.
“Despite the monsters, the princess and the knight lived happily ever after. In fact, the knight soon proposed and became the prince! The happy couple celebrated, but soon realised something very bad. The prince suspected the princess was ill, and went out to find a remedy that would cure her.
The Prince explained how the monsters had magic blood…that it would cure the princess! The only thing is the blood had to be fresh, from one of the small monsters.”
Grandma’s expression changed from cheerful to solemn as she told us the last few lines.
“The prince could only bring the princess the monsters for so long, before he became too old. That was when he brought back three baby monsters from the town, and explained his idea to the princess. That they could use them for more than blood.”
Grandma snapped back to her usual smiley self -
“Anyway girls. We’ll save the rest of the story for tomorrow. In fact, how about you pick one of your friends to come over for a sleepover! Grandma & Grandpa are running out of cranberry tea…”