Grandmother's Will

I ordered a cup of Iced peppermint tea. I come to this same café and order this tea whenever I am feeling down or sorry for myself. Today was different, however, because as I sat here, this man in a three-piece ill-fitted business suit approached me. He had an envelope for me which I had to sign for.The envelope held a letter, a plane ticket for tomorrow morning, and $500.00 in cash. After the gentleman left, I sat there reading the letter from the attorney. The letter said that my grandmother had passed and I was her only living heir. I didn’t even know my grandmother was alive. My mother had a bitter fight with her parents years before I was born. She left home and never spoke another word about them. I always assumed they were dead.My parents met, married, and had me.They lived a great life in Puyallup, Washington, where they raised me. I lost them early last year in a house fire. I was fired from my job, they say, because of downsizing. I knew it was because I took too much time off to bury my family, and to top it off, they took the company car. I found myself alone, crashing on the couch of a previous coworker. My family was gone, I had no job, no money, and no home, or so I thought. I stopped at my special café in Seattle while out looking for new employment.

I am holding this letter, wondering how she knew about me if they were not talking. I wonder if she knew about my parents being dead. I have so many questions, and the only one with the answers was 3000 miles away. I left Puyallup early this morning, catching a flight from Seattle, Washington, to Brunswick, Georgia. My meeting with the lawyer is set for 3 PM on Saint Simon Island. Driving down the causeway, I marveled at the beauty of the marsh. It was such a beautiful area. I wanted to pull over and gaze at the site before me. But I had places to be, and a lawyer's office to find. I arrived just in time for my appointment. “Come in, Miss Riverside.” The lawyer said. “I’m happy you found us with no issues.”“Thank you,” I said as I took the seat he offered me. “Let’s get right to it, since you will be the only one attending this reading of the will.”I sat back and waited to hear what this gentleman had to say. “I, Cassandra Montergal, bequeath all my belongings to my granddaughter Deandra Riverside.” He paused.“All outstanding debts will be paid by the estate before the accounts are turned over to Deandra.” He paused again, looking at me, and he continued. “Deandra will be given the contents of the grey box before she is given the keys to the house. If she accepts the stipulations listed in the grey box and accepts the keys to the house, she must live in the house for a period of 12 months and fulfill all requests found in the last letter.“ I stood up quickly – “12 months, I have to live here for 12 months?” he motioned for me to sit down. “Please let me finish.” He lifted a small grey box to the table and handed it to me. I opened the box and found a letter, a key, and a book. I opened the letter and started to read.

“My dearest Deandra, oh how I wanted to meet you all these years, but your mother and I agreed it wasn’t safe. I just heard of your parents' tragic deaths, and I believe now is the time for us to meet.I am currently making arrangements to come to the Seattle area. However, if you are reading this instead of me telling you this, then I, too, have died, not what I wanted. I have tried over the years to protect this family, but now that your parents have been murdered, and I also most likely have been murdered, it is now up to you to save the rest of the family. I ask that you accept the key, the book, the house, and the accounts, and I ask that you save our lineage. Bright Blessing on you, my child. “

“What the Hell?” I looked up at the lawyer. “Your grandmother was from the old land and was known to be a Bean Feasa.” “What is a Bean Feasa?” “A wise woman of knowledge. She was a healer, a spiritual guide, and was also well known for meddling in other people's lives. But she was respected by all who knew and loved her.” “I’m lost, I don’t understand any of this.” I hold up the Key, “What is this a key for?” “The cottage in Ireland.” “And the book.” “Her personal journal of your family's life and trials. She wants you to stay in the house, study the book, and hopefully figure out how to help your family.” “I don’t have any family.” “But you do, stay at the house, read the book, learn, and go forward.” He paused, Sign the papers, I’ve stocked the house with everything you need, please give it a week and if you don’t feel like you can do this, let me know.” I signed all the papers and agreed to live in the house. The lawyer gave me the keys to the house, keys to a car, and directions to the house.I climbed into the car, punched in the address, and drove through a charming lane filled with moss-draped live oaks. Very laid-back, guess there really is a thing called “Island Time”. No one here was in a hurry to do anything. I pulled up to a fence lining the property, typed in the code she gave me, and the cast iron fence before me opened. I drove through and parked at the base of the stairs leading to a large set of double doors.

After unpacking and trying to settle into this beautiful home, I sat down next to the fireplace with a cup of tea as I opened Grandma’s book. On the opening pages was a family tree, but it didn’t show Mom as an only child; she had two sisters and a brother, all deceased. It showed their families, their children, again, all deceased.I followed the lines up to Grandma Cassandra and found she had three sisters and two brothers, all of whom were deceased. Over the next few weeks, I traced the lines for each family. I found three cousins still listed as being alive. I took out my notepad and listed each of their names and last known locations; they were all in and around County Donegal in Ireland. After the family trees, I count some notes talking about grandma’s ancestors, also from County Donegal. The family was part of the O’Donnell clan and lived on the grounds of Donegal Castle. The next chapter talked about the great famine and how an entire line of the family in Glencolmcille (An Port) was killed. In the final few chapters, Grandma talked about a Mallacht or Irish curse a witch cast on an ancestor and all their kin while twisting a Sugan. She ends the book with a notation. “After years of searching, she believed that all surviving members of the family needed to travel to Ireland and visit the Bullaun stones at St. Brigit’s in County Cavan to try and nullify the curse. “

I sat there, dumbfounded.This lady, who says she is my grandmother, believed in witches, in magic, in curses. She wants me to go to Ireland, locate three cousins I’ve never met, convince them that we are related, that our family is cursed, and that only with their help can we break the curse and save our family. How the hell was I going to do this when I’m not even sure if any of this is real? Exploring the house, I walked into the library filled with towering shelves that disappeared into a high ceiling. I ran my fingers over the dust motes dancing over rows of leather-bound volumes. Among the books I found “In Blood and Ashes: Curse Tablets and Binding Spells in Ancient Greece”, “The Black Book of Ancient Curses”, and “Utterly Wicked: Curses, hexes & Other Unsavory Notions”, my grandmother seemed to own every book ever written about curses, hexes, and black magic. I sat there looking at the Key to the cottage in Ireland, looking at the names and locations of my cousins. A little smirk came across my face. What the Hell, I’m Game, I currently have no life to speak of, no job. Why not? If anything, it’s a trip to Ireland; it will be a nice vacation. I contacted the Attorney, told him I was going to fulfill my grandmother’s wishes, and asked him to help me locate my cousins and book me a flight to Ireland. I met up with the attorney at Jacksonville Airport, he handed me a pouch, my tickets, and basic information about the cottage in Ireland. “Good Luck, I hope you do your grandmother proud and break this curse.”I thanked him, boarded the plane and started what I’m sure is going to be a great adventure.