The World of Olympia

Bittersweet.

                 

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Mrs. Pagel's laugh shook the house, "You cannot be serious, Olympia, dear! There's no way that he actually did that to your poor teacher!"

         "Oh! But MOM! He did!" I cried, red in the face, "Jonathan Kells actually put a whoopee cushion on Mr. Ramirez's chair because he didn't get extra credit."

         Our exchange went back and forth like that for a while. I hadn't seen my adopted mother, Mrs. Pagel, since I was sent off to the boarding school in California. It'd been four or five months since then, and I was home for a month to celebrate Christmas and New Years with my family – my family, in this case, being Mrs. Pagel and myself. This was my second day home, and I was still catching her up on all of the crazy things that'd happened at school. We laughed, and laughed, and laughed, and laughed. Gosh, I'd missed her so much; I couldn't wait to spend this month at home with just her and me. She'd adopted me when I was five or six, and we were inseparable.

         We were laughing and enjoying a simple taco dinner. Just laughing and talking.

         "Mom," I said, after we'd calmed down a bit, "I've missed you like you couldn't believe. I am so glad to be home, even if it's just this month."

         "Oh honey, I missed you too. I had no one to crochet with or play sequence with. I mean, sure, I've got my job as a nurse for socialization, but it just isn't the same without you home," Mrs. Pagel sighed, "You are the light of my life, Olly."

         We embraced and sat there in silence for a few minutes, until a sharp "BANG, BANG, BANG" shook us from our stupor.

         "What! Who's there?" We shouted in unison.

         "Come help me with my bags you two!" cried a painfully familiar voice, "You can't let your beloved Granny Mallory freeze to death out here. It's -2­oC!"

         "Mom! You didn't tell me that she was going to be here," I whispered.

         "I didn't know!" She whispered back.

         Gosh. Granny Mallory. Where to begin? She is an ex-movie star with a fortune and a temper. Mrs. Pagel purposefully moved up to this isolated Canadian/American border town to get away from her mother. Does that say enough? No? Well, even though Mallory knew that Mrs. Pagel had adopted me, she'd only visited three times in my life. She didn't really care much about Mrs. Pagel and I did, or how I was growing up. She didn't even know that I'd been sent off to boarding school. So, she's basically really disconnected from my life.

         Mrs. Pagel and I walked cautiously towards the front door. Mrs. Pagel unlocked the door and was almost immediately trampled by her mother who must have been leaning on the door or about to knock. Granny Mallory hastily corrected herself and then glared daggers at Mrs. Pagel.

         "About time you two got to the door," Mallory huffed. Then she grabbed me by the ears and smooched each cheek. That's the only way to describe it – a smooch. "Hi, Olympia," she then said.

         "Hi, Mallory."

         "Granny Mallory," she said, insisting – as always.

         "Hi, Granny Mallory," I said, "You do know that I am sixteen – almost seventeen – now, right?"

         "Really? I could've sworn you were 12."

         "That's because the last time you saw me, I'd just turned twelve," I said plainly, "And I'm much taller now. I'm 5'8". And a quarter."