Drinking Tea from her Favourite Cup | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Drinking Tea from her Favourite Cup | Previous Challenge Entry
By Graham Insley
08/31/14
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"Darling, I've found it!" A smile filled Susan's face as she waved excitedly to her husband.

Spinning on his heels, John almost jumped for joy as he quickly moved to his wife's side. "Sweetheart, it's perfect. It's exactly the same pattern."

"I know. Isn't it awesome? How many antique dealers and second hand shops have we searched in the last three days? And here it was, just around the corner all the time."

With a grin that spoke of success, Susan carefully carried the precious cup and saucer to the counter. "Can I buy this please?"

"Certainly, madam. One second while I look up the price."

"Oh, the price doesn't matter. I want it. And can you pack it in a bag with lots of paper around it? It's very important that it doesn't get broken."

Having made their purchase, from a second hand store one block away from home, John and Susan started a hundred mile journey with their new treasure -- a journey's beginning that was taking them to a sad ending.

John's grandma had passed away four days earlier. Sitting in her rocking chair, drinking tea from her favorite cup, she had suffered a major heart attack. But Old Lil, as she was known by all of her friends, was much more to these two than just a grandmother. She had been mother, father and best friend to a young boy shattered by grief.

After John's parents were killed in a road accident, it was his loving and devoted Nanny who had carried him through those difficult years. Now they journeyed to say a fond good-bye.

As the couple closed the miles between them and the funeral, John leaned back in the train's seat, closed his eyes and began to remember...

"Oh, John, your mother was so pretty; and she loved you very much. Why I remember the day you were born. Your mother couldn't stop smiling. She was fit to bust, she was so happy."

"What about poppa, Nanny? Was he handsome?"

"The most handsome man ever walked these streets, was our Billy. Did I ever tell you about the time he fell in the river?"

"No, Nanny, please tell me."

"Well now, you just wait on a second while I fix myself another cup of tea."

Old Lil went and filled that wonderful cup of hers, placed it gently in its saucer and returned to her rocking chair...

"John, wake up. We're nearly there, darling."

Yawning and stretching, the weary traveler grinned. "I was just dreaming about Nanny. About all the stories she told me, sitting in that chair of hers."

"And drinking tea from her favorite cup." Susan squeezed her husband's hand as she smiled into his eyes. "Remember all the fireside chats we had with her when we first met. She really taught us all about love, didn't she?"

"She sure did. Love and faith. You know what, darling. I think that wonderful old lady is the secret to the success of our marriage. And the reason why I'm a Christian today. I hated God after my folks died, but Nanny turned all that around."

"Are you going to cope tomorrow?"

"Yes, darling, I'll be fine. I know where she is and I know we'll meet again. Of course, the cup and saucer won't be going with her, but it's a nice gesture to say good bye."

.....

The next afternoon, as the service in the crematorium chapel came to an end, the pastor stood to make one more announcement.

"Yesterday my wife and I made a very special purchase. Susan, honey, can you bring it forward."

Held very gently in careful hands, a cup and saucer was brought forward and placed on top of the coffin. The small door to the furnace opened and the conveyor belt started to roll.

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