Tina was running down the hallway looking for Grandma, wanting her to help her make cookies for the afternoon snack. She stopped in the doorway of her room and found Grandma sitting in front of the window. She was looking at something on her lap; they looked like photographs, Grandma was looking at each one carefully for a considerable time.
Tina watched her grandmother's face with absolute attention; she would suddenly smile, and at other times she would sigh and run her hand over her wrinkled face. She watched in amazement as a tear escaped from her left eye wetting her fingers, seeing this, Tina was shocked and dropped awkwardly to the floor.
"Tina!" Grandma exclaimed. "Are you okay?"
The little girl nodded innocently and walked slowly toward her grandmother.
"Are you all right? I saw you were crying," Tina pointed out in a tremulous voice.
Grandma gasped slightly and smiled, "Oh my child, don't worry, I'm not sad, I was just remembering."
Tina fixed her eyes with keen interest on the photographs her grandmother held.
"I've never told you about these pictures, do you want to know what they're about?" Tina smiled and nodded her head wildly.
"Okay, sit with me."
Tina noticed how her grandmother caressed the photos in a particular way; as if brushing against the soft velvet. She pointed to a man in a thick, black jacket, the clothes draped up to his neck. He wore a helmet with glasses on top and behind him was a vast plane, next to him was another man entwined with his arm, who seemed to be holding a bottle of wine or champagne.
"This is your great-uncle, Fausto," Grandma indicated pointing to the man in the black jacket. "He was a pilot during the war. He was a very stern man, but with his wife, he behaved like a lamb. He was very fond of parties and was a bit deranged; many claimed the cause was the excess oxygen he absorbed at high altitudes. He was a pleasant man, with whom you could talk about any subject. His simplicity was a prime attribute in him."
"And where is he?" Tina asked.
"He died many years ago already..." Confessed Grandma with a sad countenance on her face. "He died of old age, he was much older than me and your great aunt, but he was a responsible man, before he died, he left an apartment to his wife where she now lives with their seven cats," Grandma laughed and turned to another photograph.
"Here is your grandfather and me in front of the farmhouse where we lived. This picture was taken right after we bought that land," Tina ran her hands over the photo as if stroking the wool of a lamb.
"What a beautiful grandmother you were!" exclaimed Tina. Grandma guffawed with laughter. "I like the flower headband you wore on your head, and your hairdo was very pretty, why don't you do your hair like that anymore?"
"Oh dear, times change, besides, I like the way my hair looks now, don't you?" Tina laughed out loud and hugged her grandmother tenderly, resting her head on her chest.
"What happened to that farm?" Tina asked.
There was a pause of silence for almost half a minute. A sigh manifested.
"We had to sell it because of financial problems and get cheaper housing here in town. It was an unfortunate situation, but we haven't done badly. Your grandfather got a good job, we were able to save and we solved all the problems we had."
There was a moment of silence.
It was a brief moment, but for Grandma, it was like a period of hours. She stared at the photograph from that time in which she wore that flowered orange dress, holding her husband's hands; they were rough, the typical ones of a mountaineer, and she was enraptured by the glimpse of his twisted smile, his upturned nose, and his blue eyes. She still remembers the sighs she emanated after taking that photograph, accompanied by whispers that heralded a life of bliss.
Without letting go of each other's hands, they would return to the farmhouse where Grandma spent the best years of her life. She and her heart glowed, as she was engulfed in memories, and her eyes welled up again.
"Come on Grandma, we have to go make the cookies!" Tina vociferated and then left the room with alacrity.
Grandma awoke from her memories, stood upright in the face of reality again, and returned the photographs to the old bookcase-shaped holder which possessed an inscription on the cover, "My greatest treasure."
THE END
