Winning

Taylor should have asked for her brother’s help in lugging all these heavy boxes up to the house – instead he dropped her on the sidewalk surrounded by what seemed a mountain of suitcases, boxes and pot plants. Even after all these years she found it hard to ask anyone for help and she realised as she puffed and heaved her way up the stairs that this was a habit that needed to change.

It was bittersweet being back at her Grandmother’s old house – the happy memories of childhood holidays spent there flooded her mind. She could almost smell the wonderful aromas of her Grandmother cooking delicious cakes and other treats, and recalled sitting on a kitchen chair with her chubby legs swinging under the table as Grandmother weighed, measured and blended using her kitchen magic to create culinary delights. But today the kitchen and house was quiet and still and there was no cheerful greeting or warm hug to welcome her home.

Her Grandmother had died in the fall, and now in early spring after all the machinations of legalities were finished Taylor found herself the owner of this little ramshackle house in Bradford, Pennsylvania. Her brother inherited the shares that her Grandmother had also left in the will, so thankfully there was no animosity between them regarding the inheritance. Taylor couldn’t quite figure out how her Grandmother had managed to afford the shares, many of them bought in the 1950s when she was a young widow with five children to feed. Maybe now Taylor finally had time to go through the boxes of documents and papers here Grandmother had left behind would she find an answer to this question.

The house felt cold so Taylor went down into the basement to try and coax the heating furnace into life. She wondered how she would manage here alone – she was grateful to have the extra living space having moved out of a cramped flat in Philadelphia, but at least the flat was cosy. The house just felt bare, even though her Grandmother’s furnishings and pictures were still there. What was missing was her Grandmother’s loving presence and unconditional love.

Taylor felt a tear welling up and shook herself, reminding herself how fortunate she had been to have had such a wonderful Grandmother in her life. Some people never even have that. She decided to leave the unpacking until tomorrow and instead focus on cooking a quick meal from the food stash she’d brought with her, and spend some time going through the paperwork to try and find some more clues about her Grandmother’s earlier life.

After eating a tasty omelette and having a glass of red wine Taylor was feeling somewhat better. The warm glow of wine went a little way towards mellowing the coldness she had felt inside. She went into the second bedroom where all the boxes of paperwork were stored and picked the two lightest boxes and brought them out to the dining room table. Where to begin – there didn’t seem to be any order and or structure to how the documents were stored.

Taylor tipped the first box on the dining room table and spread them out, looking for clues to jump out at her. There was a motley assortment of receipts, warranties, bills, bank statements and other miscellaneous items. It was interesting seeing the purchases of 50 years ago and she imagined her Grandmother’s excitement when she got her first vacuum cleaner or washing machine. There were quite a number of warranties for products like this but not invoices or bills. Strange she thought. Half an hour later Taylor dived into the second box, which contained more memorabilia such as school reports of her Grandmother's children (including Taylor’s father), photos of seaside holidays and more documents including a letter of congratulations for Taylor’s Uncle Bob receiving the dux of his year at college. Again Taylor wondered where the money had come from to send all five children to college since Grandmother was a widow who worked in the local school canteen for 40 years before she died.

Taylor tidied up the two boxes and put them back in the bedroom, then decided she would look in one last box. She scanned the room, and noticed the edge of a bright red box sticking out from under the bed. She grabbed the box, not much larger than shoebox size, and thought this will be an easy one to end the night with.

Taylor sat at the dining room table and opened the box. Inside wrapped in tissue paper was a little black book. How odd she thought – what’s inside? She opened the first page and recognised her Grandmother’s copperplate handwriting, so neat and elegant. As Taylor scanned her eyes down the page she couldn’t work out what it was all about. It seemed to be a collection of sayings, or limericks or even product jingles. However when Taylor looked closer, in smaller writing under each of these entries was a notation such as “March 1952 Won lawnmower worth $75 from Franks Hardware store” or “July 1953 Won three months free groceries worth from Jolly Giant Supermarkets”. As Taylor flipped the pages she realised she had the answer to her questions – her Grandmother was a skillful entrant in writing competitions and had supplemented her meagre widows’ pension with winning essential items for her family. Taylor wondered why this had been kept as a family secret? She knew her Grandmother was a proud woman who hated to ask others for help (a family trait). Maybe by developing this skill in writing competition entries she had retained her independence and had not been beholden to anyone.

Taylor laughed at some of the witty entries her Grandmother had written, and thought how timeless some of them sounded. She was gobsmacked to see her Grandmother had won a Buick in 1959 with a succinct 25 words or less entry that proved less is more with writing. Taylor pondered whether she had inherited any of this competition writing talent? She was enrolled in a Masters’ Literature Program in the University of Pennsylvania on a partial scholarship, but the crippling fees and living expenses had resulted in her taking a year off study so she could work and raise the $20,000 needed for these costs. She was focused on becoming a teacher, not a writer but maybe she had hidden talents worth discovering? It also meant she might get to keep her Grandmother’s house for both sentimental and investment reasons.

All these thoughts ran through Taylor’s head as she showered and got ready for bed. She felt like a door had opened into a brand new world, where amazing opportunities awaited. She drifted off to sleep with her Grandmother’s words echoing through her dreams.

Two weeks later and Taylor had thoroughly unpacked her belongings and cleaned and tidied the house to her Grandmother’s standards (just in case she's watching over me Taylor thought). She was about to sit down and go through the job ads in the paper when she noticed a large banner ad in the advertising section of the paper. It read “Competition – Win $20,000 by describing how someone’s love has changed your life”. The competition was sponsored by Delight Chocolates, a local chocolate company, and Taylor realised it would be judged the day before Valentine’s Day.

She realised with a jolt that this could be her ticket to freedom – she would still have to work this year but if she had the $20,000 for scholarship fees and living expenses she could focus entirely on her studies and get her best results. It didn’t cost anything to enter so why not give it a try? Two cups of coffee later and many scrunched up balls of paper, Taylor realised this sort of writing was harder than she thought. Sure she wrote theses and dissertations in her Masters program, but condensing her thoughts and creativity into 25 words or less was challenging. She got up and paced around the room for a bit, then decided to have a look at Grandmother’s little black book again for some inspiration.

As she flicked through the pages she marveled at her Grandmother’s wit and writing skills. How different her Grandmother’s life would have been had she not been widowed at a young age with five children. Taylor knew that her Grandmother would have excelled at college had she been given the opportunity. However Taylor could see her Grandmother’s writing gift did not go to waste after all.

As she flicked through the little black book an entry caught Taylor’s eye. It was for a competition by a champagne company which Grandmother had won. The question was “Who makes you feel effervescent” and she had written “My darling Joe, my love, my life; your effervescence fills my life. You make my heart sing every day, I pray your love will stay”. Taylor let out a sigh when she read this – because looking at the dates this competition was just prior to Grandpa Joe being killed in 1945 at the Battle Of Iwo Jima. She hoped they’d had the chance to drink the French champagne together while he was on furlough before he died, but she would never know.

She mentally pulled herself together and tried to focus on her current situation. She’d received another reminder letter from the University about unpaid fees from the last term so she really needed to get her act together raising some money quickly. She made herself a coffee and sat at the dining room table and opened the paper again to the competition entry page. As she re-read the question she realised she did have the answer after all – and a winning one at that! Even though the questions weren’t identical, she could use the inspiration from her Grandmother’s winning entry to write her entry.

The writing and scrunching up of paper balls only took about an hour. Taylor was pleased with her final effort, which was “Grandmother, your love fills my life; you taught my heart to live with delight; though very far away your love with me will always stay.” She opened up her laptop and submitted her entry at the competition webpage online. Judging of the entries would take place in one weeks’ time, and meanwhile she just had to get on with other business such as finding a job which was becoming more urgent with her dwindling finances.

The next week passed reasonably quickly, though Taylor had developed the habit of obsessively checking her emails in case there was any news about the competition. She wondered how her Grandmother managed back in the pre-internet days where most communication was by snail mail. She guessed having five kids would have kept her occupied, but she wondered whether her Grandmother had felt the same mounting excitement that Taylor felt as the draw date grew closer.

Finally on the day of the competition draw, Taylor was organising her wardrobe to find suitable clothes to wear to a job interview next week when her mobile rang. A friendly male voice boomed at Taylor “Are you Taylor Knowles”. “Yes” she said, “speaking”. “Hi Taylor I’m Merrill Dickson, I’m the head of marketing at Delight Chocolates. I’ve got some very exciting news for you”. Taylor couldn’t speak – was this really happening? “You’ve won $20,000”.

“Taylor we loved your entry about your grandmother – most people wrote about their partner or boyfriend, but we at Delight chocolates know the love we have for our family members is very important too. And my Grandfather, who founded the company, sat in on our judging today and said your entry reminded him of the talented Rose Knowles who won many a competition in our county back in the day”.

A tear rolled down Taylor’s cheek – “That’s my grandmother” she choked out. Merrill said “Well I’ll be darned – that’s a beautiful ending we couldn’t have predicted. Another Knowles girl with the perfect winning words!”