She had a small pension and took jobs wherever she could. My grandmother hemmed pants, helped at the church office, and cleaned houses twice a week.
Grandpa had been sick.
For a while, Grandma baked pies for a diner until she declared that 12 pies before sunrise were « a plan invented by people who hated sleep. »
Still, it wasn’t enough.
Eventually, she fell too far behind on the mortgage. The bank took the house.
I still remembered packing. Grandma folded dish towels before putting them into boxes even though she was crying so much she had to keep wiping her eyes.
It wasn’t enough.
***
We moved into a tiny rental apartment.
The bathroom door wouldn’t close unless you lifted it. My bed was beside a radiator that made strange noises all winter.
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