Money and Grandma
Agnes Huang
Words Checked: 2763 Words in Oxford 3000: 95%
Synopsis Since few weeks ago, Susie started to secretly unlock the door of her grandparents’ bedroom when they were outside working hard on the farm. She went into the room and took away some coins from her grandparents’ piggybank. Mr. and Mrs. Higgins did not notice that because they thought they have given the sisters enough allowance. In order not to hurt Susie, Cindy never told other people the doings Susie had done. Soon Mrs. Higgins detected the missing money, but she chose to keep it a secret and gave Susie a chance to amend.
Contents Chapter 1
School Life……….……….1
Chapter 2
Divorce…………………...9
Chapter 3
No One Knows…….........17
Chapter 4
A Big Change….…...........30
Chapter 5
Love……………..…........36
Chapter 1
School Life
“Good students won’t cheat, and always do the right thing,” said the teacher, Mrs. White. It was 9 a.m. now, and Susie was chatting with her friends stealthily, hardly noticing that the teacher was lecturing. During the break, there were always people around her laughing happily, telling jokes and sharing interesting things together.
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Susie was an enthusiastic girl. One time in Physical Education class, one of her classmates, Abby, fell and seriously twisted her ankle when shooting a ball at the goal during a soccer game. Abby sat on the ground and began to cry because she could not walk and her
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ankle hurt very much. The other students were still enjoying playing soccer and hardly noticed that Abby was hurt. “Are you OK? Let me take you to the health center,” Susie said sadly. “No! Go away!” Abby cried. Abby was a very mean girl in Susie’s class. She never accepted other people’s help and neither helped others. “Come on! I don’t want to see you crying loudly as if someone is bullying
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you.” Susie took care of her for the rest of the PE class. Mrs. White dismissed the class on time and asked, “Any volunteer to help me erase the black board?” Susie did not say a word and just stood up and walked to the front and erased the board. Also, people surrounded her at her desk after she finished the job. There were Rosa, Debby, Tina, Peggy, Beatrice and also
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Abby. “Friends” play essential roles at Susie’s age, even though they argued, fought, and scolded each other, their friendship always seemed strong. Every weekend they went to the library together. No matter how hard their homework was, Susie could always figure out the answers. “What is the capital of California?” Beatrice asked. “LA?” Tina said. “No! It’s Sacramento,” Susie
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answered confidently. She was so brilliant and intelligent. Winning a scholarship every semester has never been a problem for Susie. After school Susie went back home and changed from her uniform into casual clothes. They were going to see a movie.
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“Where are you going, Susie?” asked Grandma. “To the movies with my friends,” replied Susie. Grabbing her bag she hurried to the gate to wait for her friends to pick her up. She was out of Grandma’s sight and disappeared. “Come back soon or I will lock the door and then you won’t be able to get in!” shouted Grandma loudly towards the front door, but Susie was already gone. Every time people invited her
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somewhere to go, she always said “yes� without thinking. Playing billiards, going to amusement arcade, night markets and shopping were all her free time activities with her friends, both boys and girls. That she was confident, outgoing and easygoing made her very popular among her friends.
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Chapter 2
Divorce
In 2001, Susie’s father’s factory closed down because of the economic depression. Many companies laid off employees and unfortunately, Susie’s father, John Higgins, was one of the victims of this disaster. He had been in the business of selling cars for three years. However, he lost his job and could not find another one for a long time. Day after day John became poor 9
and could not afford Susie’s tuition, so Susie and her sister, Cindy, were sent to live with their grandparents in the countryside.
Since Susie’s dad had no job, he had stayed at home all day long and dillydallied. “I can’t endure seeing you so 10
discouraged,” cried Susie’s mother, Sonia. Sonia had been seeing her husband doing nothing and being an idle man for nearly a whole year. They quarreled every day and one time she ran into the kitchen, picked up a dish and threw it at John. That dish cut him and the injury left a scar on his face. “You bitch! You could have killed me!” shouted John. “How dare you! You must be on something.”
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“I don’t want a husband like you! No job, no money, not care about our kids and me! I think there’s no love between us anymore.”
A few days after that big fight, they divorced. The pressure from their family was 12
too hard to handle. Everything was out of control. Sonia had been seeking a happy family, but now it seemed that was an unrealizable dream. She married John when she was nineteen. At that time, they were a sweet couple in everyone’s eyes. Due to the fact that Sonia became pregnant when she was twenty, they married. John was twenty six then. On the one hand, maybe it was too young for them to start a family. Five years later, quarrels and
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arguments between them became more frequent. No one could predict what would happen next. On the other hand, they didn’t really understand each other. Sonia sought freedom and still wanted to have more fun in her life. Therefore, these elements accelerated their divorce. Cindy and Susie were very little when their mother left them. John insisted that he should have guardianship. Since then, the two little girls lived without a mother till they
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grew up. “Why did mom leave?” little Susie asked her dad one day. “Your mother doesn’t love me anymore,” said John. He looked so sad and emaciated. Wearing short pants and flip-flops he walked around the house as if he was thinking about some important things. “From now on, you two have to study hard and learn how to be independent,” John said seriously. “Without mother we still can live
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very well. You still have grandma and grandpa and they will take care of you, too. So don’t worry.”
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Chapter 3
No one knows
Since their parents’ divorce, Susie and Cindy moved to their grandparents’ house. Everything was fine. Every morning Grandma woke them up and bought them breakfast before 6.30. And then at 7.30 Grandpa would drive them to school. Susie and Cindy’s grandparents were just like their real parents. Everyday both Susie and Cindy were given 100 dollars as pocket money 17
to use freely. “When you’re hungry, you can buy something to eat,” reminded Grandma. Grandma cleaned the table they had just used and put the garbage into the trash can. Susie grabbed her schoolbag and ran towards Grandpa’s car. Grandpa was hurrying her. It was already 7.10. Finally, they arrived at school in time. “Take out your homework,” said Mrs. White. “Oh! I left it at home,” Susie
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murmured to herself. “Where’s your homework?” “Sorry, I forgot to bring it. Last night after I finished it, I put it on the desk waiting for my father to sign.” “And then?” “He came back very late so I went to bed and I think it is still on the desk,” answered Susie. Mrs. White was very angry. “I will call your dad later,” she said. Actually, it was not because Susie’s
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dad didn’t sign his name and check her homework. Instead, yesterday after she came back from school, she went out with her friends and totally forgot that she had homework to do. At night she watched TV with Grandma and Grandpa till eleven o’clock then she went to sleep.
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Susie was only twelve years old. She enjoyed her school life and the happy times with her friends. “I love to be with all of you guys,” Susie said to Tina and Beatrice. It was break time now. “What do you want to eat for 21
lunch?” asked Abby. “Spaghetti and pizza!” said Susie. “I want to eat dumplings,” Rosa said. “Fried rice!” said Debby. “Susie, pizza is too expensive. We can not afford it,” said everyone. “That’s fine. I will treat you to lunch.” That day they all had pizza and Coke for lunch and of course, Susie paid the bill.
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At 4.00 in the afternoon, Susie got home. Surprisingly, there was no one in the house. Cindy hadn’t come back yet. Grandma and Grandpa were out working on the farm, tending to dragon fruit, bananas and rice they have planted for over ten years.
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They always came back home around six o’clock. Susie was bored because she had nothing to do. She didn’t want to do her homework, even though Mrs. White had called her father this morning and found out that Susie made up a lie when she
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didn’t do her homework. She walked around in the house, trying to think of something to do. All of a sudden, she saw a drawer. It was the drawer of her grandfather’s desk. She remembered that every morning before Grandma gave them 100 dollars as pocket money. Her grandma would walk to the desk, pull out the drawer and take out a little pink box. “This is the box,” Susie thought.
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Because of her curiosity, she secretly took it out and opened the box. “There are a lot of coins here!” whispered Susie. For a little twelve-year-old girl, she had never seen so much money. Compared with the money in her little piggybank, those coins were ten times more than hers. “If I have this money, I can buy gifts for my girl friends and treat them to lunch again,” she thought. “They would think that I am very
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generous and nice and they will want to be my best friends forever.� So she took three fifty dollars coins and then put the little box back inside the drawer.
She put the coins that she stole from her grandparents into her piggybank. At 6 o’clock Grandma and Grandpa came
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back and Cindy returned as well. They had dinner together and watched TV. Everything was the same as before. One day in the afternoon, Susie was at home alone again. This time, she wanted to see what on earth was in her grandparents’ bedroom. Without their permission, she took the key from a drawer and opened the door. Of course her grandparents were working on the farm as well. Their room was quite big, and there
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was a bathroom inside. She didn’t plan to look for anything, but as she was about to leave she saw a piggybank. That’s her grandparents’ piggybank. It was put on the corner of a dressing table. She walked closer and wanted to see if that was a real piggybank that had money inside. “I found a piggybank!” she whispered to herself. As usual, she took away some coins from that piggybank and then put it back onto the desk.
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Chapter 4
A Big Change
People are usually punished if they do something wrong, including Susie. After so many times stealing money from her grandparents, she felt uneasy about doing that. She needed someone to tell her what to do because she knew that she was now a thief. Thieves were usually put into jail for a couple of years and everyone hated them. She was so fearful of being caught by the police, so 30
she thought that maybe sharing the money with Cindy could make it not so serious. “Do you want something to eat? I’m going to the convenience store and get some cookies and drinks,” asked Susie. “OK. Buy me a pack of Lays and a bottle of Coke,” Cindy said. “That’s all?” “Yes, I’m not hungry at all. I just want to have something in my mouth.”
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Little Susie believed that Grandma would give the money to them as allowance anyway so she just took it earlier before Grandma gave it to her. This had always been her excuse to deceive herself. For many days Susie could not sleep well. Finally, she could hardly put up with that any longer. She made up her mind to tell her elder sister.
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That night, the two little girls had a very long discussion about how to solve this problem. Susie felt really sorry about what she had been doing. “I think you should tell Grandma the truth,” Cindy suggested. “NO! What if she tells our father then he will punish me,” Susie shouted 33
loudly. “But you did that already and soon Grandma will find that the money is gone.” “I know I was wrong and I promise I won’t do this anymore.” “So what are you going to do?” Cindy asked seriously. “I have no idea. Surely I have to put the money back because it originally doesn’t belong to me,” answered Susie. “And?”
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“Maybe after I return all of it back to the little box and their piggybank, I will……” “You should apologize to them and confess to stealing their money.” Susie had never thought to let somebody down because she was always the good student in other people’s eyes. She got good grades, had lots of friends, and everyone liked her. But why did this happen? No one knows!
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Chapter 5
Love
This world was full of love. Because of love, people could be forgiven. Especially the love from the family. They love you so they don’t hurt you. 36
“Before Grandma finds out the truth, I won’t tell her that it was you who took the money,” claimed Cindy. “Thank you. This has been a four-month-long secret I have been keeping. It’s really hard to confess, but I know I have to.” Cindy chose to keep it a secret for Susie because she realized that everyone made mistakes, once they know she was wrong, everything is going to be fine. The scorching summer sun shone
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high up in the sky. Grandma was busy making lunch in the kitchen.
Susie looked at her grandma and realized how hard she and Grandpa worked in order to raise her and Cindy. Grandma was already sixty four 38
years old and Grandpa was already sixty one. Both of them still planted fruit and rice and had to go to work on the farm everyday. Grandma was humpbacked. Since Cindy and Susie came to the house, she had been playing the role as their mother. However, she was their Grandma actually. Waking them up, preparing breakfast, driving them to school, paying their tuition, cooking them dinner and taking care of them had all become their grandparents’
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responsibilities. “Grandma, I want to tell you something,” Susie said, sounded ashamed. “Go ahead! I’m listening.” From the beginning to the end, Susie confessed to Grandma clearly that she stole their money. At first, of course, Grandma was quite angry.” “I didn’t know what was wrong with me at that time. Because of my curiosity and greed, I took the money
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away and shared it with Cindy. But it had nothing to do with Cindy,” explained Susie. “My dear, actually, I am quite proud of you. People make mistakes. But remember, you will be forgiven if you are honest.” Meanwhile, Susie was crying sadly, but also with a little happiness. Finally, she could reveal the secret that had bothered her for such a long time. Now she felt more comfortable than ever.
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From then on, Susie learned a valuable lesson that other people may have not learned or even never learned about. Grandma gave her a chance to mend her ways and also encourage her to behave well. In addition, in order to preserve Susie’s self-respect, Grandma 42
decided not to tell her father and didn’t punish her. Like what I have said, because of love, everyone can be forgiven.
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Acknowledgement Cover page http://www.flickr.com/photos/-the-curious-oyster-/35708
35037/
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82409_o8BuK5_max300&ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp&x=wrt
P6 http://www.flickr.com/photos/osaru123/2887095205/
P10 http://www.flickr.com/photos/myskyblue/183021336/
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P12 http://cq.netsh.com/eden/forum/hp_note.php?iHpNoteID
=14964106&iForumID=761651
P21 http://www.flickr.com/photos/jiwei/351768900/
P23 http://blog.wayi.com.tw/archiver/2008-04-12.html
P24 http://www.flickr.com/photos/winki_jeff/1024628208/
P27 http://www.flickr.com/photos/vicky_photos/2138355621
/
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P33 http://edu.people.com.cn/BIG5/1054/3698797.html
P36 http://www.zakka.com.tw/yahooclick/product/LU11201
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1/
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About The Author AGNES HUANG is a 5-year junior college student and majors in English. She is from a single parent family in Tainan, Taiwan and now lives in Kaohsiung.
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Since few weeks ago, Susie started to secretly unlock the door of her grandparents’ bedroom when they were outside working hard on the farm. She went into the room and took away some coins from her grandparents’ piggybank. Mr. and Mrs. Higgins did not notice that because they thought they have given the sisters enough allowance. In order not to hurt Susie, Cindy never told other people the doings Susie had done. Soon Mrs. Higgins detected the missing money, but she chose to keep it a secret and gave Susie a chance to amend.
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