Grans and the Memory Room

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***

It was late fall and I was almost eight when Grans came up to me and asked, “Simon, would you please go out front and rake up the leaves?”

I knew Grans didn’t have any tools so I snickered, “I sure will.”

As I walked out the front door, I was surprised to discover a brand-new red-handled rake. It was casually leaning up against the oak tree in the front yard, near most of the fallen leaves.

“What?!” I grumbled.

I had assumed that I wouldn’t have to do any chores. It wasn’t there a few minutes ago when I walked into the house, I thought. I wasn’t very happy, but I grabbed it and began raking the leaves into a big pile. Then I leaned the rake back up against the tree and went into the house to grab a roll of large bags and a dustpan to scoop up the leaves. I was only gone a few minutes. When I walked out the front door, I looked at the tree and was startled. “Where’s the rake? It’s gone!” I quickly glanced around. “What? Where’d it go?” I exclaimed, wondering where it went. “Maybe it’s fallen down?”

So, I hurried to the tree and carefully started searching the ground and all around the tree. Maybe it’s in the pile of leaves and I fished through the pile of leaves. I began throwing leaves everywhere, getting more and more frustrated until the pile was scattered all over the yard again. I still couldn’t find the red rake.

Finally, I thought, maybe someone has taken it?

So I raced to the curb and frantically scanned up and down the street, but I didn’t see anyone.

“Hmm!”

Quickly, I ran back into the house and called out, “Grans the rake is gone. I raked up the leaves and then. Then I leaned it back up against the tree and left it. I was only gone a few minutes to grab some bags. When I came out the rake was gone!”

She simply replied, “Someone else must have needed it.”

“But I need it to finish raking the yard.”

“It’ll be there tomorrow,” Grans said, smiling and looking down at me.

If Grans wouldn’t tell me where the rake went then I was going to ask MB. So running into the Memory Room, I immediately smelled her Lily of the Valley perfume so I knew MB was here. Sometimes she goes out, but not today. Settling myself down on the settee, I picked up her picture from the wooden coffee table in front of me and asked, “Why was the rake leaning against the tree?”

“It’s because you needed it to rake up the leaves,” MB said as her picture glowed brighter.

“I know, but where did it come from?” I pleaded with her.

After pausing for a moment she said, “You’re going to have to ask Grans about that.”

“I did and she said we needed it.”

“That’s all I can tell you too, Simon. I’m sorry.” I was very disappointed at her answer.

So I began asking everyone, Aunt Julia, Cousin Jeremy. Finally running into the attic, I began smelling for Uncle Charlie.

There he is, near the window, I thought walking towards where he usually sits in the corner of the room.

“Uncle Charlie,” I asked, trying to see if he was in a good mood or not.

“What’s up kid?” he asked.

Good, he’s in a good mood, I thought. “Could you tell me why the rake was sitting by the tree?”

“Rake, what rake?” he barked, going back into his old grouchy self. “Tell Grans I don’t do yard work. Now leave me alone. Go away!”

I wasn’t getting any answers until one day, a month later, when I was passing the Memory Room, I overheard Uncle Charlie talking to Grans about the rake and a portal. As soon as Grans saw me, they changed the subject.

Now, Grans doesn’t have a computer. Actually, Mom gave Grans her old one, but I think I saw it in the basement collecting dust last year. So, on Monday evening, when I was at home with Mom, I told her about the rake and asked, “Where did it come from and why did it happen only at Grans’ house and hasn’t ever happened at our house?”

The only thing Mom said was, “You’ll have to ask Grans.” Before she walked away to go to bed.

I’d have to work on discovering those answers myself, and besides, now I wanted to know what a portal was. So, after Mom picked me up and we got home, I asked her if I could borrow her computer.

“Of course,” she replied. Then I took it up to my room and began the hunt for information on the word portals. The internet said it was a gateway or a door for things to come through. But I’d lived in that house with Grans for all of my six, nine, fourteen, twenty-eight years of life and I never saw any portal or gateway for that matter. There were a lot of doors in the house, the bathroom door, the front and back doors and even an attic door, but no portal door.

I was always looking for places to play. By eight I had been in every nook and cranny in Grans’ house from the basement to the attic and I never saw any portal or funny-looking door, of any kind. Grans must have hidden it or something.

***

The rake was my first encounter with an appearing object. My second encounter happened later that month when I walked into the kitchen. Grans was holding a tray of raw burgers and said, “Do you want to have a picnic outside?”