Mushrooms

A grandmother and her granddaughter are sitting at the kitchen table after dinner. The grandmother’s daughter, the girl’s mother, and father are out of town. The conversation before the first scene has been somewhat awkward- the two women are not particularly close, although they have become much closer recently. The grandmother has just pulled out a box of old pictures from when she was in her thirties and forties.

Grandmother: wow, look at this one. Here’s your mother and me at an art show in Santa Fe. We sat there and watched the glass blower for over an hour. We used to go to things like this all the time. Of course, art shows were very different back then. And Santa Fe was a free-spirited place, and people used to camp out on the fields and walk around and buy art all weekend long.

Girl: that sounds amazing. I would love to live there. Wow, look at this one, Gram. You were absolutely beautiful in your younger days!

Grandmother: I wasn’t always this old! I was a real looker in my day. Well Santa Fe is very different now. In the sixties and seventies it was a haven for hippies and artists. When I divorced your grandfather, Nancy approached me-you know Nancy. She’d been wanting to go to New Mexico forever, she got divorced a few years before me. I called her and we decided to take the girls and hunt artists in the southwest.

Girl: you sound so happy when you talk about your life there. I wish you’d stayed. You look so full of life in these pictures. You’re surrounded by friends and you look so young.

Grandmother: oh, yes, it was amazing. Truly an outstanding life. You know, our house looks like its in pretty bad shape in these pictures, but the inside was amazing. And I was surrounded by great people. I was a little too free though, if you know what I mean. I was a bit of a rebel then. I should have been acting like more of a grown up in my forties, but, boy did I have fun.

Girl: what kind of fun?

Grandmother: well, lets just say I had a lot of boyfriends. Here- this was my knight in shining armor. My first true love. When he broke up with me, I cried for a whole month! I lost weight, I couldn’t eat. He was just so sexy! Look, we took a boat trip together. Oh but then came Walter-he was a hoot.

Girl: Gram, how many boyfriends did you have, exactly?

Grandmother: oh! Too many to count. They came and went. One or two every month. We took trips, we went to parties- crazy parties! We toured the southwest and I fell in love over and over again. So many good looking men then- I never made a better decision than divorcing your grandfather. He held me back- never let my spirit fly free.

Girl: what did mom think about that?

Grandmother: well, like I said. I didn’t exactly act my age- as you know, she still holds many things against me. I wasn’t a very good mother to her then. I exposed her to a lot of horrible things- drugs, sex- she was never sheltered after we moved there.

Girl: I had no idea you lived such an exciting life! There’s a lot I don’t know about you, Gram.

Grandmother: there is, my dear! I have so many stories I could tell you….say, did I ever tell you about the time I did mushrooms?