The Haunted Traveler December 2017 Edition

19
We’re Visiting Granny
Gabriella Szaszkó
“We’re visiting Granny, we’re visiting granny,” Anne hopped up and down in delight,
while she routinely placed her knapsack sporting a cute crocodile into a black plastic
container at one end of a big X-ray machine. Abigail let out a disapproving sigh, tossed
her bag on the conveyor belt, and followed her 7-year-old sister. She was silently praying
for someone to turn them back before they reached their destination.
It was because of Mom and Dad that they took this bizarre journey to Granny every
second week. First, they had to go into the building, which was brave of them to do
considering that it had a very grim look. Built of wide, grey bricks that made it resemble
a prison, it stood a couple of miles away from the city limits. Once inside, they only had
to say Granny’s name, Jane Rivers, and promptly after that a pass would be handed over
to Dad, entitling all four of them for entry.
But of course it wasn’t simple as that; like every visitor, they had to undergo three
security checks every single time. They had to remove their belts and shoes, part with
their bags, and walk through the security gates which had a frustrating tendency to beep,
sounding a false alarm. On the previous occasion, Abigail had been asked to step out of
the line twice to be examined with an odd machine whose purpose remained a mystery
for her to this day. It was her silver ring, a present for last Christmas, that most often
caused the ordeal, but there were times when she went through the machine wearing the
shiny jewel without any hassle. This she would never understand. As usual, they waited
for a long time in the queue as the elderly couple ahead of them got through the first
gate only on the third attempt.