A greedy brother inherits a house and mocks his younger sister, who receives only five rusty old clocks from their late grandmother. Little did they know what was hidden inside these timepieces.
“Oh, so Grandma called you too?! I thought you’d be busy at the library… like a good little bookworm!” Brian, 26, teased his younger sister Linda, 19.
She just got out of the taxi. Fear filled her eyes as her heart told her, “Nothing will happen to Grandma. She’ll be okay. She’ll live another 100 years.”
Brian and Linda had come to visit their 90-year-old grandmother Marlene. She had asked them to see her urgently.
“My darlings, I want to see you one last time. I may not get the chance again,” Marlene had told them painfully on the phone two days ago…
Entering her grandmother’s room, Linda coughed, noticing that it was rather dusty. Marlene was too old and sick to do things herself. She hadn’t swept the floor, and Linda saw that the ceiling was moldy from a leak.
Linda opened the clock, and what she found inside would change her life.
“Grandma!” she ran and hugged Marlene, who was in bed. “Nothing will happen to you, Grandma. Don’t worry. God won’t take you away from us because you’re all we have.”
Until a year ago, Linda lived with Marlene. She took care of her and helped her a lot. She was even ready to turn down a life-changing scholarship, but moved to the city to continue her studies at Marlene’s insistence.
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Brian entered the room, coughing and smiling. “Damn… I’m allergic to dust! Grandma, haven’t you swept and dusted your room?”
He approached and saw that his grandmother was sick and thin. But he was less worried and stood there, waiting to find out why she had called them.
Marlene looked Brian in the eyes as she squeezed Linda’s trembling hands. It pained the young girl to see her grandmother so pale and her eyes devoid of that beautiful sparkle they once had. They seemed lifeless.
Marlene smiled, stood up gently, and took two envelopes from under her pillow. “My dears, this is for you,” she said. “Please use it wisely. I called to give it to you.”
Brian and Linda opened the envelopes and found a wad of $5,000 in each.
Linda couldn’t hold back her tears and ran away crying.
Meanwhile, Brian frowned. “Only that much? I thought you had more to offer. Well, I have to go now.” He turned his back on Marlene and left without even thanking her.
The next day, Marlene had a surprise.
“Hello, Grandma!” Marlene heard Linda in her room. She didn’t expect her to come back.
She woke up when the girl undid the curtains, beams of light illuminating the dark, dusty room.
She was surprised to see Linda. She had thought the girl had gone to the city where she was studying and working as a part-time librarian.
Linda walked over to Marlene with the envelope she had given her the day before.
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