Maud

As me old granny used to say, get them, dear, before they get you. Oh, she didn’t really say that at all, but she was tough and got her way.

She made a fortune out of real estate, essentially starting off with nothing. She was a milliner by trade. 

There were rumours of diamond thefts back in England, nothing proven, though. They say her brother was involved. It was, allegedly, the reason a number of them immigrated to Australia quickly.

She took all of my grandfather’s wages and gave him a miserable allowance. He had to walk to the CBD from Kew every day because he had no money for the tram fare. He had a rock cake and a cup of tea every day for lunch under Flinder’s Street Station.

She had another man’s photo on her bedside table all of her married life. That is true, I’d see it there when I’d stay.

She used to brush my hair and tell me I was the most handsome boy in the world. You gotta love granny's.

She had skin like an English rose and eyes that sparkled like blue sapphires. She was a genteel English lady.

She had abortions, so my great aunt used to say, who I also adored, but it was true to say they didn’t adore each other. But, my mother said that the abortions may have been true. As a child, she used to go with her mother to the hospital for injections, or some such thing.

“I always loved geography,” she used to say to me. “You can go all over the world finding what’s good.” She’d laugh and say, “It is the most interesting thing to do.”

As old as my little finger, my tooth is a little younger, she used to say when asked her age.

She lived until she was ninety five.