「故事·听力」My Grandfather Revealed Our Family Secret Before Dying

My Grandfather Revealed Our Family Secret Before Dying

My name is Cynthia. I am 13 years old, and I live with my mother and father. Well, I mean, until recently that's what I thought. My mother is pregnant and will soon give birth to my brother. No… it's not like that. Oh, let me start over from the beginning!

Just six months ago we were an absolutely normal and happy family. Only my grandmother Pamela, my father’s mother, and my mother had a pretty cold relationship. You know, they both pretended that the other just didn’t exist! But it was always this way, and I had gotten used to it. Whenever we were going to visit my grandmother we would always do it together with my father, and my mother wouldn’t join us.

My grandmother can’t be called the most sweet and nice person to communicate with, but I always knew that she was really very kind. The only thing about her that I saw was that she was sad because she lived alone. Right when I was about to be born, my grandfather and her divorced – he went to Europe and we haven't heard from him since. Well, at least that was the story I heard when I was little and when I asked. And then when I grew up- I stopped asking.

My parents wanted a second child badly, but for a long time they were unsuccessful. When my mother finally got pregnant, we were all so happy! And then my father made us even more happy when he said that after the baby was born, we would move to the new house, a bigger and better one! Life was beautiful!

But something went wrong. After a few months, I noticed that my parents became more and more nervous and upset. When I asked what was going on, they just brushed me off. So I decided to call granny Pam and ask what was wrong. My grandmother said that I was already big enough to know and explained that my father took out a mortgage for the house, but that something had gone wrong with the business, and now he was having trouble paying it off. She also added that the best thing I could do was to spare my father from questions since he was feeling bad enough already.

So, I couldn't get any answers from my father — no questions, because I didn't want to make him feel worse, but I couldn't ask my mother either – I had no right to get her worried, because it could harm the baby.

All I could do was guess – will everything be alright or will we soon be thrown out on the street and become beggars? So I thought that maybe I could learn to sing and dance in order to earn money to feed my little baby brother and myself. My mom and dad became more and more sad and irritated with each passing day. And they still didn't tell me anything. So I decided to eavesdrop on what they were talking about. I know it's not good, but didn’t I have a right to know what was going on?

You know, at the beginning, I did not understand what they were talking about. They sounded very nervous and argued about something connected to money and… my grandfather. I listened and listened and finally I understood! It turned out that my grandfather had recently died. He had left a will and according to this will, I was the one who inherited all the big money he left! But only under the condition that I would read some letter.

Frankly speaking, I was so happy that I almost left my secret hideout, screaming, "...of course, this legacy will solve all of our problems!" But I didn't do it because I understood that my parents did not want me to read the letter. Even though they kept repeating that we needed this money very, very badly.

I quietly returned to my room, went to bed, and while I was still awake I was thinking that my parents should not worry – I was a big girl now and whatever my grandfather had written in that letter wouldn’t scare me, and I will be able to help my family with all the money he left me.

And on the next day I said all of this out loud, right away at breakfast. I thought they would be happy… but they looked shocked and seemed totally unwilling to even talk about it.

Then I called Granny Pam and told her everything. But you know… my grandmother reacted very strangely. She started to laugh. But at the same time she didn't sound as if she had found any of this actually funny at all. Finally she said: "Of course, my dear, I will come over now and do my best to convince them."

And she really did come to visit – I think for the first time in my life. But it did not make me happy at all. She looked threatening and … triumphant for some reason. And she talked to my parents as if she was deriving some dark, unkind satisfaction from the whole situation. But she really did manage to persuade them. She said, "Did you really think that you could keep this a secret forever?" and she started laughing again, but I noticed tears in her eyes.

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