Grandmotherly Touch

This one happened in Durban, 2018.

My grandma had planned a five day vacation for her, my brother, my niece and I in Winkelspruit. We were driving up from the Eastern Cape on a Thursday and returning the following Thursday, but the morning of our departure, whilst on the road, we received a call from my grandma's younger brother that their elder brother had passed on. So our vacation turned into a funeral attendance.

We tried extending our stay for an extra two days; thus leaving on the Sunday, since the funeral was to be held that Saturday, but because it was the holidays, therefore peak season, the lodge we were staying in was already fully booked. We struggled finding another place close by (my grandma had chosen Winkelspruit cause it was closer to her younger brother, whom they get along with and further from her other siblings, whom she also gets along with, but you know sisters. No matter how old they get, they still have sisterly squabbles and she had just wanted peace of mind that trip).

Long story short, my brother found a place in Illovo, which isn't too far from her brothers' homes. The place my brother found was sort of like an all in one. It was a self-catering place and had a backpackers, camping grounds for day visitors and overnighters and a tall building with a playground area at the back and a view overlooking the ocean. The view was nice.

To describe the apartment... Not good at this so bear with me. You walk in through the door and on your left is a kitchenette; sink and cupboards. To your right is the bathroom. Continue into the apartment and to your right, next to the bathroom, is a dining area with a six seater table and a flat screen mounted in the corner above. Very awkward place to put it, cause you had to strain you head from the table, to see anything. Right next to the table are two bunk beds facing each other. Across, on your left, passed the kitchen now, is a wardrobe, and a dressing table with a mirror. Straight ahead is a bedroom. That's the one that had the ocean view. Naturally, my grandmother and niece took the bedroom. I chose the bottom bunk bed that was against their bedroom wall and my brother chose the top bunk bed that was next to the table.

Now, the lodge we had been staying in had supplied us with blankets. Unbeknownst to us, this one had blankets as well at the top of the wardrobe. We're all short, except my brother who saw them, but for some reason chose not to mention it. They had only placed one blanket in the bedroom and one on the bunk beds, which my brother quickly claimed. All I had was a fleece blanket that we had driven up with from home. It was chilly, for Durban, and that first evening I went to bed sulking cause I only had the fleece blanket and used my towel for that extra layer.

At, say, around 6-7am, I heard my grandma's bedroom door open and her walk into the bathroom. After freezing all night, I wasn't fully asleep, but kept dosing in and out. I remember hearing my grandma open the bathroom door, then walk towards her room, but that's when I was dosing off. I felt her place a blanket over me, but was still a bit annoyed at having to sleep with no blankets, so I kept my eyes shut and fell back asleep.

Fast forward to around 8am. I am woken up by my brother and he is mad. He starts shouting at me; why did I take his blanket?

I calmly tell him that mama (we all call our grandma, mama) placed it on me this morning. That he must take it up with her. Which is exactly what he did.

He goes into her room and confronts her. Next thing they all come out of her room; my brother, still upset, my niece amused and my grandma swearing she never touched his blanket. That yes, she did get up to use the bathroom, but went straight to bed afterwards. My niece also denied it, but we all knew it couldn't have been her, cause she was a child and wouldn't have thought of taking the blanket from my brother to give to me.

There were a lot of grumpy people that morning. Lol

My grandma attended the funeral, we stayed behind and enjoyed our day at the beach, my niece played in the play area and all was forgotten and forgiven.

On our last evening, while lying in bed, I had a vision of an elderly boer grandma standing by the kitchen sink with her back to me. She had gray, curly hair pulled up in a loose bun and was wearing a floral pinafore with a pastel blue short sleeved gown over it and slippers. I felt her smiling at me and I silently thanked her.

Serves my brother right for not telling me there were extra blankets on top of the wardrobe.

Most places we visit always have a spirit attached to them, no matter how new and I am always in the centre of things. Nothing scary, just puzzling as in; did that just really happen?

They never used to believe me, until my sister, niece and sister's friend all witnessed it, with me, whilst on holiday in Cape Town.

...but, that's another story for another day.