A Sea Change
Vince's grandmother, Henrietta Campion, had been fairly described for many years as an irascible woman. So much of what confronted her in the world struck her as evil or disappointing that she found it perfectly reasonable to bask in her crotchetiness as she presented daily reports to others on the ever-rising tide of iniquity. She grimly marshalled the facts culled from each day's tormenting headlines, and then further sharpened them with unillusioned interpretation. When she was 72, Henrietta became bedridden with an illness that refused to let go. To everyone's surprise, her malady did not exacerbate her bleak disposition. There was a sea change in her nature. Somehow she relinquished her accumulated grievances, though there was of course just as much malevolence in unfathomable reality as ever. She turned soft, and her interests shifted to all the rippling evidence of goodness, of the little pleasant surprises that release joy. She grew deeply attached to her granddaughter, Josie, and they would spend hours playing games and tell stories to each other. Henrietta emptied her jewelry box and the pieces inside became the spoils of the winner of Cat's Cradle. Vince remembered how Henrietta had once been so militant about her hair being crisply arranged. Now it stuck out haphazardly, unbrushed. It removed the last vestige of her fierceness. She looked like a beloved cartoon character. A friend of hers from long ago that Vince had never met turned up to visit her one afternoon. His name was Mirth Sedgely. He seemed nearly blind, and took the liberty of running his fingers across her face to help see her. She laughed and he wept as he did so. Henrietta told him, "You know if that chopper of yours hadn't had a flat we might have gotten all the way to Clairville that night. Everything might have gone different." "I hear you never get out of bed now." "Well, it occurred to me that I might make a few changes, now that my life has scaled down so. No more interest in uproar. I started with colours. You know, there isn't one of them that isn't beautiful. And if you don't think so, we might have an argument."