Yesterday, I went to my grandmother's house to help her clean. She's old so she can't do some household chores anymore, and she can't go to the upper floor of the house because of her knees.
My grandmother's house is one of the oldest houses in our neighbourhood. It was already built when there was still war. It was renovated and repaired, but still some part of the house remained untouched. Just like their basement. So, my grandparents’ house is only a two storey building with a basement. That basement stands as their hiding place when war was still ongoing before. Some people would also hide in that place, and I don't know how many deaths occurred in that house. That is also one of the reasons why I find it creepy sometimes.
The house isn't that old looking since, like I have said, it was repaired and renovated. If you go to the second floor of the house, you can still see some touches of the past like the window frame and some cabinets for example. My grandmother didn't want to change it so they just took extra care of it even if the material of the frame and the wood used was already very old and weak.
When I get there. The first thing my grandmother asked me is to change all of the curtains. To be honest, my grandmother has so many curtains hiding in her cabinet upstairs. Well the house is big and it has many rooms, windows, and doors. The second floor of the house wasn't that scary but I still find in creepy. Especially when I am just alone. Can you also feel that? Like when someone is staring at you? Honestly, I would always have goosebumps.
So after I change the curtains, I then sweep and wax the floor. The second floor of the house was all made up of wood, and the floor was also made of hard wood so my grandmother asked me to polished it and make it shine. It was only on the second floor since half of the house was already concrete. Imagine cleaning a big and old house alone. Very tiring and creepy, indeed.
When I finished cleaning the second floor and the living room, the next place to clean was the basement. The basement also has some small windows so my grandmother also asked me to change it. What I like the most in the basement is it was cold there and you won’t be needing a fan.
I remember when I was little, my parents both had jobs so they would leave me and my brother in my grandparents’ house. Every noon, my brother and I would be sleeping in the basement because it is much colder there and so we can't escape to play. We love to escape every afternoon nap before just to play so my grandmother decided to let us sleep in the basement so we couldn't escape. There is only one door in the basement and the windows are too small and narrow for even us kids, so when we try to escape my grandmother would immediately see us.
So going back, as I clean the basement, there are some parts that shouldn't be touched. In the corner, there were tables, chairs, cabinets, and some things that I didn't know because it was covered with thick cloth. I never dared touching it even before, but yesterday I got really really curious so I took a peek. The things under the clothes are full of dust and they are just some old and broken things.
I asked my grandmother if I could also clean those, she agreed and even helped me to lift the cloth. I don't know if those are collections of broken and old items, or whatsoever. As I was moving the feather duster, I accidentally hit the medium looking box and caused it to fall. I immediately picked it up thinking that I broke it but luckily it looks like it was made of a special hard wood. I also notice that there's a keyhole in the box.
Out of instinct, I got really excited. I was thinking that there is probably a treasure inside the box, or some mystery, or my grandfather left some message and money there before he passed away.
The box looks very old and full of dust. I also noticed that there are some words written in the bottom of the box but I couldn't read it because it was written in Spanish--I think or I don’t know. I was very excited and curious about what's inside the lock box. It is a pity that I left my phone in the house so I couldn't take a picture of it.
So without further ado, I dropped the feather duster and broom that I was holding and ran to my grandmother to ask about the box. I asked her if we could open the box because there might be some treasures inside, she laughed and went out to get the key. I continue cleaning while anticipating the possible things inside the box. Minutes later when my grandmother came back and asked me to look for the key in the cabinet upstairs because she totally forgot where she put it.
I obliged and went upstairs to look for the key. I asked her what it looked like but she had already forgotten what it looked like and the only thing she remembered was that she put it inside a red pouch. So I tried looking for a red pouch in every corner of every cabinet upstairs, and I even took some keys that I found hoping that it fit the box. I couldn't find the red pouch that she was talking about so I just went down to the basement.
I found my grandmother also trying to find the key in the basement's cabinet but to no avail, she couldn’t find any. To my disappointment, the keys that I found didn't also fit the box's keyhole. So the only way to open the box is to destroy it, which I doubt if my grandmother would agree to. She said the box was made by my late grandfather himself.
I asked her about the words written in the bottom of the box, but she was also surprised to see that there was something written in the bottom of the box. She didn't know it and we couldn't read it so I was somehow disappointed. I was really curious about what's inside the box, and I think I won't be at peace if I wouldn’t know what's inside. So I asked my grandmother if she could remember what was inside.
To my delight, she said that she remembers. She said the things inside the box are greater than the diamonds, and as good as gold. A real treasure, but her treasure. Because the things inside the box are her remnants of happy memories of the moments that passed her life.
Died Santan Flower
My grandmother said that she keep in the box the first flower that my late grandfather gave her. A Santan flower. My grandmother loves every flowers in the world but the Santan would be her forever favorite since it was the first flower that my grandfather gave her. Which she said that he just pick from her mother's garden. I even laughed when she said that her mother got mad when she saw what happened to her plants.
Handwritten Letters
My grandfather in my memories, is a quiet and disciplined man. He also looks strict so I never imagined that he could write some sweet handwritten letters to my grandmother. She also said that he didn't have a nice penmanship but she really felt what my grandfather wanted to say in those letters.
I, on the other hand, was very eager and curious to read those letters that my grandfather wrote. I wanted to read and imagine how they were when they were still young.
Pictures of some Dates
She also said that she put some pictures of their dates there. She said that my grandfather took her to many beautiful and memorable places before and paid some photographer to take a picture of them. I honestly was dying in curiosity, I wanted so badly to see those.
Wedding Portrait
In her memory, she also put the copy of their wedding portrait there. Since she treated it as a box of treasure so she also included their wedding portrait because it is one of her greatest treasures.
She forgot the rest of the things she put inside the box but she remembers that there are still other things such as handkerchiefs and so on, and she also remembers that she also put the ring that my grandfather gave her when he proposed. A ring made of real gold.
I was very curious up until now about the things inside the box but I didn't pry anymore since those things are important for my grandmother. There isn't real treasure inside, or maybe that's what I think but nevertheless, I've learned from my grandmother that a box of treasure doesn't always mean of diamonds or golds or money because sometimes it is just a memory of the moments you treasured the most. Because nothing is greater than the gold than your happiest moments.
