FanStory.com - Visitors Wow!by Claire Tennant

The little unit where I lived was rather shabby, though the china on display made me think the wealth was showing in a spectacular way. Who was I kidding? This was going to be a visit worth remembering, as my grandniece Betty hinted. She wanted me to agree to her bringing a friend. Why me? This elderly and somewhat eccentric Aunt wanted none of it, but how many more visits could I expect given my three-digit age?

If this newcomer came with the expectation of frailty and gentleness, she would soon discover she was "as wrong as you could be", quoting the character Matt Drayton from the film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. I just had to grin and bear it.
The bell rang. They were on time, I liked punctuality. I opened the door.
"Hi, Aunt Joan. This is my chum from school years, Sue Baker."
Betty's smile would have melted any heart.
"I hope you don't mind my inviting her to join us."

I nodded briefly, looking Sue up and down. I sensed that this action made her wonder if her hair needed combing or if her lipstick had stained her teeth. No, she was the perfect specimen of good health and tidiness. I envied her!
"Come in, come in."

"Why do you think, Betty? I'm old."
"You don't look it." Sue ventured.
"Twaddles.", I replied, smiling.
"Look at me, love! I can hardly walk, and when I do, I need to use a stick except in the house. In my young day, I was never home, mind you there was no need to catch up on chores. We had a housekeeper and a gardener, and twice a year, a dressmaker visited so that my sister and I would look elegant and perhaps find Mr Right. Social gad abouts we were because it was expected of us. If ladies of our ilk were too shy, too lazy or too ugly to attract a 'beau', spinsterhood and becoming the nurse housekeeper to their parents was the option. I was having none of that!"
I shook my head and pursed my lips. I realised neither young lady understood. Wealth these days, if you had it, did not include servants at your beck and call.
I smiled and continued the monologue.

"These days, I have a nurse look in on me early in the morning, checking my blood pressure, dishing out medication and horrors, bathing me. Where I once made dinner quite satisfactorily, I am now forced to heat or reheat the modern equivalent of Meals on Wheels if the bods at the retirement village do not have something special on. Heavens, some of the rubbish you get, you would not give your dog. As for the laundry, huh? These modern gadgets are too clever for me. Between servants and super-duper velvet soap that made the stains sit up and beg to leave, the results were wonderful, and the styles more flamboyant. These modern gadgets and liquid laundry stuff don't do the job... unless you soak the stain. Nah, in my day, it was simpler and more effective even if you had to do your washing yourself."

I sipped the tea and took the largest piece of fruit cake.
"Mm!" I said, smiling. Then, turning towards them, I asked.
"Homemade?"
"Yes, Joan, I made it." Sue looked embarrassed
"Well done, Sue. It's delicious." I meant it, too.
We munched together for a while, and suddenly, Sue started chatting. Yet a burning question inside her escaped.
"Joan, what was life like when you were our age?" she asked.
"Well..." I smiled as though processing the question.
"In those days, we did not work. Daddy earned enough to keep us until we met either 'Mr Right' or 'Mr He Will Do'.
"My sister, Gwen and I were used to servants, as I stated. We did our bit at voluntary work for the church bazaar or visiting the sick, complete with the housekeeper's baking. When war broke out, we saw our friends and relatives go. My darling Bert, the love of my life, was a bomber pilot. He did not come home." The tears threatened.

"You married Uncle Bill," Betty said
"William, dear. He was never Bill."
Truth be told, he preferred Bill, but I hated the shortened version.
"Uncle William, then," said Betty, looking towards Sue with an expression that clearly said
'I stand corrected...again.'
Oh, Wiliam was alright," I conceded, slightly embarrassed by my tone.
"He was a school teacher, then a principal, and while he earned a good wage, I did not get the housekeeper I wanted until my father died, leaving Gwen and I the sole beneficiaries of his assets. I could cook reasonably well but was never tidy, which annoyed William's scientific 'everything in its place' mind. He did not like Mrs Finch, the housekeeper, much. Poor William, two bossy women under one roof." I smiled, thinking, "At least he loved me."

We eventually had the radio, of course. Oil lamps in some places, but gradually, we were blessed with electric lighting. I remember the day we installed the television. Oh, that was fun. It did not matter that anything you watched was in black and white, we were entertained. We were used to the radio, but television was an extension of electric communication The telephone was simple to use even if we did have to call someone via the operator until technology improved. I guess we were not the only ones to get the phone installed in the hall and freeze if the call lasted more than ten minutes. Things have changed, haven't they?" I finished the tea.
"Ah, that was lovely," I said appreciatively.

"We did have telephone boxes at every corner. I suppose it meant if you could not afford a private phone, you could use the next best thing. Your parents would remember what I am talking about. You don't see so many phone boxes now. I wonder why."
"Mobile phones, are the in thing, Aunt Joan," said Betty.
"What?" I looked at them almost with contempt.
"That's true, Joan," Sue said, bringing hers from her bag to show me.
"See, even this basic phone has an inbuilt camera, access to email, phone banking, and maps.
I thought I was going to faint, instead I laughed.

Well, I was born in the Roaring Twenties, where fashions changed and women worked if they had to. I must die in these roaring or exploding twenties. As long as it is not compulsory to have these phone gadgets at my age, I can cope." Was I wearing a 'so there' expression? I hoped so

"What's the time?" I asked checking the grandmother clock.
"Oh my! Should the nurse arrive, she would tell me I really should be having a nap. Blow it! Sue, can I have more cake, dear?"
I thought as I munched, that fruit cake had not changed in 100 years. Thank goodness.