I believed I was just purchasing peace from leaking at seventy-four. What they would discover up there and the choice they would have to make were not something I had bargained for.
I’m Evelyn, a 74-year-old widow of nearly a decade. While cutting the hedges in the garden, my husband Richard unexpectedly died of a heart attack. He was complaining about the weeds one minute, and then he was gone. Just me and this ancient, creaking house—no children, no family left.
I’ve kept myself occupied, which is humorous in a sadistic sense. Nothing fills the need, not even my bread, my roses, or the volunteer shifts at the library where the children roll their eyes when I suggest Dickens. You hear things in that silence.
The groan of old beams and the drip-drip-drip of water through a roof that I’ve been too poor to restore are two ways the house whispers its degradation.
I used to lie awake throughout every storm, gripping my quilt and gazing up at the ceiling. Would it finally give way tonight? Would my shingles be damp when I woke up?
I finally managed to find a small roofing company this spring and scraped together enough money for repairs. They appeared to be a little harsh. There were men with tattoos, cigarettes hanging down, and what Richard would have called “trouble in steel-toe boots.”
But don’t judge me, Evelyn, I told myself. You don’t need a choirboy; you need a roof.
The bass roaring from their pickup made my roses shudder the morning they pulled into my driveway. Boots weighing heavily on the gravel, four of them piled out.
The first person who caught my attention was Joseph; he was young, perhaps in his mid-twenties, and had hair too long for a roofing job, but he gave me a gentle regard. His head tipped, “Good morning, ma’am,” he said. “We’ll get you taken care of.”
I grinned. “Thank you, my love. Call me Evelyn.”
Josh then arrived, swaggering and boisterous as if he owned the area. “Where is the entrance? Here, daylight is burning.” Before yelling at the others to unload, he hardly gave me a glance.
“This roof’s a nightmare already,” mumbled Kevin, tall and slender with a cigarette pressed to his mouth, before he had even climbed onto the ladder. Then there was Matt. He was steady-eyed and neutral, but his quiet didn’t reassure. He appeared to float like vapor after the others.
In any case, I chose to play hostess. Old habits don’t go away easily. I took out a platter of cheese and turkey sandwiches and a jug of lemonade at midday.
Joseph’s expression brightened like a Christmas boy’s. “You didn’t have to do this, ma’am.”
“Nonsense,” I replied. “Hard work deserves a meal.”
With a quiet “thank you,” he took his dish carefully.
Conversely, Josh rolled his eyes. “Is this a daycare or what? Lady, we’re not children.
I felt a squeeze inside. Richard would have advised Eve not to be alarmed by them. However, the way he scowled while grabbing a sandwich without saying “thank you” left a taste in my mouth that was difficult to get rid even with lemonade.
“I guess you’ve got yourself a house mom, Josh,” Kevin said with a sly smile.
Josh snorted and took a bite. “Yeah,” he said. “Maybe she’ll tuck us in, too.”
Matt observed but did not interfere as he ate in silence.
Joseph gave me a pitying look. “Ignore them. They simply chat.
I made an effort to grin. However, I was unable to get rid of the uneasiness that was creeping up my spine as I stood there with the tray still in my hands. These workers were doing more than simply roof repairs. I could tell they were already searching for more than shingles and nails by the hollow, harsh tone of their laughter.
I would discover later that I was correct.
The hammering had gotten to the point that I could almost trust it by the third day. I was knee-deep in dough in the kitchen when the constant thud of nails was broken by a shout.
“Holy Jeez!” The voice of Josh. Too sharp. Too excited.
With flour sprinkling the air around me like smoke, I wiped my hands on my apron and shuffled outdoors. The moment I came into view, the males froze.
Kevin spoke first, but he was too quick and slick. “Nothin’, ma’am. It’s just a lousy beam. We’ll fix it.
I wasn’t born yesterday, though. The edge of something they were too determined to conceal was visible to me. A tarp was hurriedly placed over an old wooden box. I gasped. that container.
Richard’s box.
I knew it right away. The brass corner fasteners and the wood grain. Years ago, only a few days before his heart turned against him, he had shown it to me. He had muttered, “Eve,” holding my hand with an ever-waning power, “if something happens, it’s yours.” When to open it will be clear to you.
I didn’t look. Perhaps I was scared. It’s possible that I trusted that it wasn’t “when.”
Josh smirked at me like a kid with stolen candy, breaking the ice. “Lady, you shouldn’t be concerned. This is just some crap that your old dad has stuffed here.
“Junk?” I did not mean for my voice to crack as sharply as it did. “That box belongs to me.”
The air became more dense. Kevin’s eyes narrowed as he moved. “Funny thing, though… feels heavy for junk.”
At last, Matt’s voice was clear and low. “Maybe we should just hand it over.”
Josh came up behind him. “Stop talking, Matt. We located it. Finder’s keepers.”
Joseph’s powerful yet gentle voice cut in. “Josh, it belongs to her. Avoid stealing.
Josh gave a nasty, barking laugh. “A boy scout, what are you? It’s not your grandmother. She is merely an elderly woman with a leaky roof.
On my shoulders, the words were more scorching than the summer sun. Dusting the flour off my armor-like apron, I straightened. I looked him in the eyes and said, “Old lady or not, that’s my husband’s box.” And if you don’t tell me, you’ll regret it.”
The hush lingered for a moment. Kevin then chuckled to himself.
When I reprimanded Richard for keeping things in strange places, he always laughed. “Banks are for people who like paperwork more than peace of mind,” he would mock, extending a hand as if he could blow the world away.
We were left with jars of money, a handful of gold, and a small wooden box that he had built himself after decades of that tenacity. It had brass corners and a small burn scar on the lid where he had soldered something once.
One wet afternoon, his breath obscuring the attic light, he showed me where it resided—in the rafters. He felt a mixture of pride and fear. “If I go,” he murmured, clutching my hand till it ached, “you’ll know where to look.”
I said I would. I didn’t.
I believe that a part of me refrained from looking since doing so would have required me to realize that he was permanently gone. I wanted to see if someone ever discovered it, so I had a modest test in mind. That might have been harsh. It might have been cowardly. In any case, it had been discovered.
The house turned traitor that night, sending their remarks directly to my kitchen through the window that was cracked to let the summer breeze enter. Crude, certain voices drifted across the yard.
Josh: “We divided it into four parts. Simple money. She’s too old to notice the difference.
Kevin: “We also raise her bill. Say the shot of the entire frame.
Matt said, “She can barely afford us now.”
Josh: “That’s right. She will work it out. We’ll also be wealthy.”
Joseph then remarked, gently but firmly, “This isn’t right. It belongs to her.
Like a coin clinking in the gutter, Josh laughed. “You believe Grandma will spend it up there? Before she touches it, she will die. Kid, do you want in or not?
With his hands empty and his head bent, Joseph stood alongside the truck. Josh was already joking around again. Like he owned my sky, Kevin leaned on a shingle.
A trail of dust hovered in the sunlight as their pickup thundered out down the road the morning after their plot. Joseph, however, did not accompany them. He hovered near the porch, his shoulders bent like a child preparing to confess to smashing a window, his cap twisted in his rough fists.
He shouted it out when I opened the door.
“Ma’am,” he replied in a shaky voice, “this is the package. It’s I have no idea how much money or gold it contains. They intend to accept it. His Adam swallowed hard, and his apple bounced. “But it’s yours.”
Then he extended it toward me. The box made of wood. My Richard’s box. His hands trembled as if they were burning.
I had trouble breathing for a while. That youngster, who had nothing at all and was an orphan, could have accepted it, disappeared, and never returned. Rather, he was there on my porch, giving me a fortune that he had no justification for giving up.
Something broke inside of me.
“Joseph…” I could hardly raise my voice above a whisper. “I was aware of this box. Before he passed away, my husband concealed it.
Confusion flickered in those gentle eyes as his brow furrowed. “You… you knew?”
Slowly, I nodded. “Yes. Years ago, he showed me. I never came into contact with it.
With a hint of pain, he said, “Why not?”
We sat at the antique kitchen table when I gestured him inside. Forgotten, the dough I had left on the counter had gone flat. I traced the grain of the wood with my fingers before responding.
“Because I wanted to see what people would do if they found it,” I replied softly. “The world is full with thieves, Richard used to say. I wanted to show him that he was either correct or wrong.
Joseph opened his mouth, then closed it again. The weight of it pressing into him made his eyes shine. “So… this was a test?”
I extended my wrinkled hand across the table and placed it over his quivering hand. “Yes. You also passed.
He let out a big sigh and his shoulders slumped. “I don’t require a test, ma’am. I simply I simply did not wish to emulate them.
I squeezed his hand while my eyes pricked with tears. “And that’s exactly why you’re not.”
I was waiting at the kitchen table that night when the truck rumbled back into the yard and the men swaggering down with tools. Like a silent judge, the wooden box sat between us.
Josh positioned himself across from me, his gaze quickly straying to the tarp in the corner. “You can’t—” he began in a flat, artificially confident voice.
I answered, “I know what you found,” in a firm voice. “And I know what you planned.”
As like his face couldn’t decide which fault to display first, he turned pale and then red. He spat, “She’s bluffing,” and then he laughed, thinking it would seem more courageous.
“I’m not,” I said. “I heard everything.”
There was a long, terrible stillness. Kevin moved with his hands in his pockets. Matt looked away. Josh seemed to be trying to chew his way out of it, as evidenced by the way his jaw worked.
Joseph was standing next to me with his shoulders set and his simple hat gripped tightly in both hands. The boy who had shuddered on my porch that morning didn’t look like him. There was a certain hardness there, but it was righteous, not cruel.
Josh stepped forward. He growled, “You think you can call the cops on us?”
“I already did.” I gave the phone on the counter a nod. “They’ll be here in five minutes.”
None of them moved for a moment. Then Matt mouthed something I didn’t hear, and Kevin swore. Josh’s laugh thinned, and his bluster eventually gave out. “You dirty—”
We heard the rest right away. Minutes later, the blue lights flashed down the lane. Officers moved with silent efficiency, clicking cuffs and barking questions. Josh let out a harsh, nasty scream that shook the windows all the way down the street. Kevin made an effort to haggle. Matt sobbed. Joseph’s eyes were wet yet steadfast as he stood like a rock.
I turned to Joseph after everything was finished and the yard was filled with the smell of diesel and rain. One penny lay in the light like a witness while the box sat open on the table.
“I don’t have any kids. No heirs,” I responded. The evening was louder than my voice. “This money, this house… When I’m gone, it’s all yours. If you don’t mind, I can still regard you as my grandchild.”
His face twisted. Without thinking, he dropped to his knees and embraced me as if he had always held that embrace. He buried his face in my cardigan.
I later told him, “It’s been six months,” while the TV aired an old film that Richard and I had enjoyed and the kitchen smelled of bread. “You still come every week.”
He smiled. “Wouldn’t miss it.”
He brought his girlfriend for Thanksgiving, and we all laughed when he made a terrible bread for Christmas. We protect the rest of each other, and the trust protects the money. In this house, I believed I would die alone. Rather, I discovered a grandson at the age of 73.
With a gentle and confident tone, Joseph squeezed my hand and said, “Gramma Evelyn, we’re a family now.”
