Grumps the Furniture Mover.

Arriving at my grandparent’s house one Saturday morning I was surprised to find them ‘curtain twitching,’ you know, peering out through a window at the neighbours and trying not to be seen. They were standing, watching in silence and I was afraid I might startle them. But my grandfather knew I was there, and turning he beckoned me to come over, he never said a word. He just put his fingers to his lips.

"What on earth are you doing” I whispered sliding in to join them by the window.

"We’re having some fun watching this caper, come and join us,” he suggested.

Grumps spoke quietly trying not to laugh, pointing to a young couple across the road who were trying to load up a removal van.

“What do you make of that for a lark?" He said, nudging me in the chest with his elbow. I pulled up a chair and sat next to them to see what all the fuss was about. It was not long before a young couple came out of the house carrying an exceptionally large mattress. It kept folding in the middle as they struggled to walk with it, bending and buckling until they threw it down in frustration.

We could not hear what they were saying to each other, but their faces were a picture and told a story without words. This went on for another ten minutes before the novelty wore off and we regained our composure and moved  back into the room.

Grumps was the first to speak, “What do you think Ma? How about we get the lad some tea and the posh biscuits, to welcome him properly?” 

Gran said, “When you say we, I take that to mean me? Well, at least we’ll get decent cuppa,” she half joked. Then very obligingly Gran shuffled off to make the tea, this, she was extremely good at. She had decreed sometime in the murky past that, Grumps, should not be allowed to make any more tea, since he was so bad at it. Gran stopped at the kitchen door, turned around and spoke mockingly.

“If you want to tell him a story, why don’t you tell him about your tea making skills, eh? Tell him how you boiled the eggs for breakfast then used the hot water to make a pot of tea, tell him that if you dare.”