Charmaine
placed her hand on her chest, her heart was beating rapidly, she was afraid
that she had upset her Grandfather. Stanley Wharbucks came back from his room
holding a small box in his right hand. He handed the box to Charmaine. Charmaine opened the box, inside it
was a gold locket necklace. The locket had a lion defeating a dragon etched on
it. “Oh Grandpa Stanley this is beautiful!” exclaimed Charmaine. She placed it
around her neck and asked him to help her to fasten the clasp. “This necklace
belonged to your Great-Grandmother Stacia and the last person to wear it was
your mother Charlotte, I had planned to wait until your eighteenth birthday to give it to you but I believe
that the time is right to give it to you now,” he said. “Did you know that the dress and slippers
you
are wearing also belonged to your mother and she wore them to her sweet sixteenth
birthday party?” he asked. Charmaine was taken aback. “No I did not! Do you want me to take them
off?” she asked. “Oh no, not when you look so beautiful in them!” Stanley Wharbucks proffered
his elbow to her and when she put her hand inside it he said, “Come, let us go and greet your guests.”
It
was decided that Ben’s Rose Garden was the best place to have Charmaine’s
birthday party and when she saw how it was beautifully decorated by Florence
she knew that the right decision had been made. She was a bit apprehensive about how Florence would react seeing that she was not
wearing the dress that she had made. When Florence turned and saw her in the dress she looked shocked, and like Stanley Wharbucks she asked Charmaine where she found the dress?
While Charmaine was pleading with her not to get angry Florence started to
laugh. Charmaine said she was a bit confused, as she did not expect that
reaction from Florence. Stanley Wharbucks then said to Florence, “Do you want
me to tell her or will you?” Florence hugged Charmaine and said that she was
the one who sewed the dress she was wearing and she looked exactly like her mother Charlotte
did when she wore it so many years ago. Charmaine
started to laugh realizing that she was destined to wear a dress sewn by
Florence for her birthday. After hugging Florence one more time, she went to
greet her friends from school who had left all the way from Montego Bay just to come
to her party. She introduced them to the children who lived on the estate and
soon everyone was having a great time. When Florence brought out the birthday
cake there were a lot of oohing and ahhing from everyone, the cake was beautiful! Grandpa
Stanley said the toast and helped her to cut the cake. All too soon the
party came to an end, she thanked all those who came and thanked Florence and
her Grandfather for giving her such a lovely party. As much as Charmaine enjoyed her party she was happy it was over because she was eager
to return to her room to open her presents as well as to begin writing in her
diary. I turned the page in the diary and saw where Charmaine had made a sketch
of the locket necklace that Stanley Wharbucks had given her. Just like I had already
suspected, this was the same locket necklace that my Grandmother Charmaine
always wore and which my father gave me after she died, confirming that the
Charmaine of the diary was also my Grandmother Charmaine. I started to cry, finally
I would get a glimpse into her life which had always seem so mysterious. Thank
God for diaries! I dried my eyes and went to my dresser. I took the locket necklace from my jewelry box. I hardly wore it because I thought it was too ostentatious, but now I placed it around my neck with pride. Suddenly I felt cold and I began to shiver, there was also an eerie feeling as if there was someone in the room with me. I glanced in the mirror but there was only my reflection looking back at me. I shrugged off
the feeling, turned off the light and went to bed.
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