My husband had a grandmother. Every summer, he would stay with her in a little village in the Cotswolds. She never seemed to mind; in those days, she ran her own small business. She was a one-woman showorganising everything herself, selling healing herbs to local chemists. My husband doesnt know exactly how she managed it all, but he remembers that, by the standards of those times, she made quite a lot of money. She was a woman of very particular character. She adored my husband and never skimped on proper meals, but she would refuse to give him any money for simple treats. The family always assumed she was saving up for something.
Her house was full of large wardrobes with all sorts of compartments, each one locked up tight. As a child, my husband was endlessly curious about what she kept inside, but every time he asked, his grandmother would say it was all for her work.
Then times changed. Everyone seemed to have their own business, and her competitors started surpassing her. That’s when she became something of a local healerrefusing to take any money for her services, though her visitors were always wealthy, well-dressed people from the city. We used to visit while she was still alive. She lived in near povertyher clothes were threadbare, her meals were meagre and plain. Wed bring her good, wholesome food, but she always refused it, telling us not to spoil her; she insisted she was used to living that way.
After she passed away, she left her cottage to my husband. When we arrived to settle her affairs, we found her larder packed full of foodstuffs, all well past their best-before dates. It turned out her grateful clients had brought her gifts, but she never touched them. The real shock came when we managed to open her locked cupboards. Inside was a staggering collection: shelves upon shelves of fine things from the 1990s, a veritable museum of long-forgotten luxuries. There were piles of it all. Why did she invest her money in things sure to decline in value? Ill never truly understand that woman.
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