Bit by bit, we managed to get running water into her house, and, eventually, even put in gas. After that, we sorted out all the convenienceseverything you could want in a modern home. Funny thing is, I actually found my aunts house one day on one of those property websites.
So, my Aunt Margaret is seventy-eight, and shes got two sisters. One of them is my mum. Aunt Margaret has been married at least ten timesshes led quite a life! Her last husband passed away about a decade ago. She never had children of her own. She and her late husband lived in this very old house, never touched by modern upgrades, with just two rooms and an outdoor loocan you imagine? She kept the toilet on the back garden.
Her husband was one of those real characters, the sort you tell stories about for ages. Wed visit often. Her younger sister, my mums other sibling, lives out in Sweden. The sisters kept in touch mostly over the phone.
After Aunt Margarets husband died, we found ourselves popping in much more frequently. Out of our own pockets, wed buy coal and firewood for her, and helped with the planting and tidying up the garden. Honestly, we never took a penny from her, and wed often suggest she move in with us, but she insisted she wasnt cut out for city life.
Little by little, we improved her placegot the plumbing in, connected the gas, made everything as comfortable as we could. We even built her a proper bath out in the back garden, reroofed the housereally tried to make sure she could enjoy village life in comfort. As a thank you, Aunt Margaret told us shed leave the house to our kids one day.
Whenever she needed us, wed be there in a flash. Then, out of the blue, she moved to Sweden to live with her younger sister. Strange how they werent all that close before, then suddenly, they’re thick as thieves. What about the house? She told us to leave it as it was for now!
I wondered if, no matter what, maybe Aunt Margaret would return. Her sister over in Sweden has her own familya husband and grown-up daughter. They all live together under one roof.
We still had the keys to the house, so we decided wed swing by the next weekend to check up on everything. Turns out, our key didnt fitthe locks had been changed. And, sprayed in big white letters across the garden fence: FOR SALE.
When we got home, I found Aunt Margarets house listed on a property website. I rang up the estate agentturns out it had already sold for just shy of two hundred thousand pounds. I couldnt bring myself to call Aunt Margaret; I was truly upset with her.
If it hadnt been for all the money and effort wed poured into that house, it would barely have been worth anything. A month later, Aunt Margaret rang and said shed sold the place and given the money to her nieceher sisters daughter in Sweden. Now, I honestly havent the faintest idea how to face my husband, since all our cash and hard work went into that house as well.
