Grandma Mary
Alien Invasion? Seriously?Yeah, I know... But if someone had told me that an 89-year-old grandma, with a rosary in one hand and a dish towel in the other, would roast some aliens and save humanity I’d have called them crazy. And yet... here we are.
Grandma Mary was a white-haired lady with a kind face and eyes that still sparkled like a girl’s whenever she told her stories. Her little house in Des Moines, Iowa, always smelled like fresh coffee and cinnamon rolls. Her grandson, Paul Jr., was spending his college break with her. It had been their ritual since he was eight years old. Now, at eighteen, he only managed those coffee visits when he wasn’t swamped at the University of Iowa.
That Saturday morning, he sat at the kitchen table, dunking a piece of bread into his coffee. Same old scene: him listening to neighborhood gossip, grandma complaining about her lifelong nemesis, Mrs. Henderson.
- “Grandma, you really should go back to water aerobics. It’s good for your back.”- “Not a chance, honey. Now that Henderson’s nephew is the instructor? He’d have me floating on my back just to drown me.”
- “Grandma, don’t you think it’s time you two got over that whole rhubarb pie contest thing?”
- “Youknowit was rigged, Paulie.”
Paul Jr. chuckled. He knew the rivalry between Grandma Mary and Mrs. Henderson was eternal, especially after the “rigged contest” over the best rhubarb pie. Truth be told, Henderson’swasbetter (the whole family thought so), but no one wouldeveradmit it.
- “It was rigged, sure... but maybe it’s time to forgive?” he teased, trying the religious angle.
Grandma Mary raised her mug like a queen wielding a scepter:- “Forgiveness is God’s business, Paulie. Me? I rinse my soul with holy water... and that’s as far as I go!”
Her life hadn’t been easy. She raised three kids on her own after her husband walked out when the youngest was still in diapers. Between cleaning houses, sewing, and selling jars of homemade jam at the farmers’ market, she managed to support Linda, the oldest, who now lived in Chicago and Paulie’s mom; Robert, who’d moved to Texas with his wife and two little girls (only visiting once a year); and Susan, her rebellious daughter who had run off to California without permission and only calledaftershe’d already moved in with some artist boyfriend. Every night, Grandma lit a candle for each of their guardian angels.
But life had also made her the best grandmother anyone could ask for: she prayed over earaches, told spooky stories that mixed saints and ghosts, and baked fudge so good it could melt the iciest heart.
Yes, she was deeply Catholic, but her kitchen table welcomed everyone, no matter their faith, color, or love.
- “God is one, sweetheart. And He loves everyone. Who am I to judge?”
Still, with her grandson in the comfort of her kitchen, she slammed her final verdict on the eternal pie debate:
- ”Minehad more filling. Hers was dry. End of story!”
There was no winning against her.
The awkward silence was broken by the sudden emergency broadcast on TV:
“BREAKING NEWS!” The reporter was sweating in front of a shaky camera.“Alien ships have just landed in Washington, D.C.! Repeat: Alien ships—”
BOOM.
The screen cut to the Washington Monument exploding in slow motion, crumbling like a sandcastle.
Grandma Mary and Paulie froze, her coffee cup suspended in mid-air.
There was no doubt anymore about what the aliens wanted: destruction and domination.
