Finish the Story Contest - WEEK #36! My Entry

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Spoon-fed Memories

by @calluna

“When I was your age, I was quite the wild one. Ahhh that look, that ‘sure granny’ look, well if you don’t believe me.”

The underpaid nurse attempting to spoon-feed the elderly lady sat, heaped spoon waiting for a pause between words.

“I had quite the adventure, back when I was twenty-two, I never told your mam about this one”

Susie suppressed a sigh, every resident took her as a different relative. They used a warm, familiar tone with her, looking into her eyes, and seeing those of another. She’d given up correcting them, not one of them could remember her name.

“It was during the war, your grandpa worked intelligence out of one of those top-secret northern bunkers, that’s where he got that compass you used to love playing with.”

There was something about never been seen as herself that was starting to eat at Susie. At first, she’d pitied them, unable to see things for what they were, but as time went by, every word spoken to her, meant for another, began to cut.

“It’s been two months since I'd had a letter from him, and well, you can imagine what I thought when a man in uniform knocked at the door.”

Finally catching a pause in the residents flow, Susie swooped in with a spoon full of buttery mash, beaded with peas. For loud, sloppy moments the lady chewed, and trying to draw on her compassion, Susie smiled, scooping up another spoonful.

“Well my heart dropped and I nearly fainted before he could speak. That awkward young officer grabbed my hands, looking me firm in the eyes, ‘He’s not dead Mrs Ellerton, he’s fine, I just need you to come with me’. I’ve never packed a bag so fast in my life!”

Susie quickly exploited the dramatic moment, dropped another spoon of mash, this time laked with stewed beef and gravy, into the open mouth. She used to hate herself for finding those too far gone to chatter away easier, avoiding the talkers, but despite her best evasions, she’d got stuck with conversational Mrs Ellerton today.

“We sped down those country roads, whizzing up north, in hours. He told me nothing on the way, offering only that Nick would tell me when we got there. I’d had no idea what to bring, and had frantically thrown everything I could think of into my bag, as we drove up I began to realise all the things I’d not thought of, but there was no turning back, I could tell by the way that officer gripped the wheel we were in a hurry!”

Mrs Ellerton wasn’t letting up, Susie glanced at the clock, her shift was due to finish in ten minutes, but she couldn’t go anywhere until the old bag wrapped it up. Putting the spoon down, she tried to fight the rising anger, and decided to try and get Mrs Ellerton to cut to the chase.

“So why had your husband had you brought there?”

|my ending

“Well he didn’t send them, he couldn’t at that time but I will get to that my dear.”

Susie's hopes of leaving on time today faded away as she set in to listen to another story that wasn’t meant for her.

“When we got the bunker was the first time the driver spoke. He told me that Nick would not be able to talk to me right away and first I would have to talk to the commander at the base. I remember waiting in the room wondering why Nick couldn’t speak with me right away. The door open and the commander came in and with him someone with a a few papers. I made out what they told me as I was signing. I wasn’t supposed to share with anyone what I would see in there that day.“

Susie perked up a bit. Could this old lady know a military secret? For the first time in a while she didn’t care so much that this story wasn’t for her.

“What did you see that day? Susie said to bring Mrs.Ellerton back from whatever had caused her to stop.

“Oh yes. Well once I was done with them they hurried me down a elevator I wasn’t sure how far down we went but it took a few minutes before the door opened. I was lead down a long hallway but it was sounds that started to disturb me. The cries started out low but they grew lounder and I could make out that they were coming from men. I was brought into a room and there was Nick with his head in his hands. He looked up and saw me and pulled himself onto his feet and embraced me.”

Susie was interested but starting to get annoyed again. She was hoping she could speed this up so she glanced at her watch tapping it hoping to get a point across.

“My escort left and we sat down at a little table in the room. He didn’t say much at first just asking about the drive up and saying he was sorry about the worry. But then he got to the point of why I was there and it stunned me.”

“Will god forgive us for our sins of war? Can I give them a secret that could turn the way if it dooms those that use it? Will they ever let us leave if I don’t? I am so sorry I didn’t ask for you my dear. They are using you to force my hand.” Nick said putting his head back into his hands.

“I was indeed locked in and now had no idea what was going to happen to me. I looked at Nick and asked him what he figured out?”

“I have made a serm that can make a soldier much more than he is. It can make his mind clear at all times, stronger, faster, and able to go days without sleep. But it kills them in the long run the body is not meant to run like that. I destroyed the formula and they want it back but I am trying not to give it to them.” Nick said to me

“I was at a loss for a few moments what could I do. I wasn’t sure what punishment for us was if he didn’t give it to them but I wasn’t sure I wanted to find out. You see my Nick he was a god fearing man and I loved that about him but he could be a fool for a man that was so smart.”

Susie hadn’t expected this at all it seem that Mrs. Ellerton did know something and maybe she played a bigger role in the war than she thought.

“I started to talk to him about the reports out there about the the war. Boys were dying by the thousands every day. That whispers had started to go around saying we were losing the war. Nick told me that was true. I explain to him that god has always needed warriors to do their part to defeat evil. That his serum might cost a boy his life but it would allow him to save so many before he died. That he knew that was a deal a lot of soldiers would take if offered. We talked for a few hours before he was ready to agree. You know the way turned after that and well you know that we won my dear.”

Susie said goodbye to Mrs Ellerton and headed out. It was time to go home but she couldn’t get this story out of her mind. The war had been before her time but she had learned about it. Everyone knew that we had almost lost. The story she had heard was that some heros at indeed changed the tide of that war and there was more than one monument to them. She spent that night looking into the serum and that war. She couldn't find anything and wondered if the old lady had made it up. She went to bed pretty sure it was all just a story.

The knock at her door in the morning caught here off guard. The man at the door even more so but he had a badge so she opened the door next thing she knew he was riding in the back of a car headed to who knows where. Sitting next to her was Mrs.Ellerton.

“Do you think you grandfather needs me to talk to him again?’

Susie looked around thinking this can’t be real. I am not even her granddaughter. Could what she said have been real? As they pulled into a military base Susie knew it had to be true. And was worried what would happen next. She looked again at Mrs. Ellerton and a bit anger filled her. Why did I listen to that old woman? WHY?