The Origin of Granny May
(One day, Granny May is sitting in the Fair City Jail when the Warden comes to see her.)
Warden: Granny May, you have a visitor.
Granny May: Is it Mama?
Warden: No, it's not your mother.
Granny May: Is it Eugene?
Warden: Nope, not your grandson. It's Wordgirl.
Granny May: Wordgirl? She's the reason I'm here. Why does she want to visit me?
Warden: Beats me. She just said that she wants to visit you.
Granny May: Fine. Whatever.
Wordgirl/Becky: Granny May? You don't mind me visiting you, do you?
Granny May: I have nothing better to do, I guess not.
Warden: I'll be just outside if you need anything. (He then walks away.)
Wordgirl/Becky: Look, I'm sorry that I had to bring you to jail, but you tried to rob the jewelry store and the bank again. Why are you commiting crimes anyway?
Granny May: I don't know. I really don't. I know my mother isn't pleased with my choices but I don't know how to stop.
Wordgirl/Becky: Well, you're never too old to stop. Don't you have kids and grandkids? What is that teaching them?
Granny May: I understand what you're asking me. I wasn't a villain when my kids were born. I didn't really start to commit crimes until after my husband died.
Wordgirl/Becky: I'm sorry for your loss but…
Granny May: Trying to make ends meet was hard and my husband didn't leave enough money for me to live on after his passing and Social Security wasn't helping much either and I felt that I was too old to go back to work. So I started stealing from other people and it became normal and I decided that I wanted to keep doing this. Look, in the back of my mind and probably the minds of a lot of us villains, I know it's wrong to steal and using my grandson, Eugene wasn't a good idea either.
Wordgirl/Becky: I see. So what was your life like before you began stealing?
Granny May: Oh, it was great. You don't mind listening to an old woman tell stories about her life, do you?
Wordgirl/Becky: No, of course not. I love listening to the stories of my elders.
Granny May: You are such a dear, but if only I had my photo albums and all.
Wordgirl/Becky: I can go and grab them from your house and be back in a split second.
Granny May: You are a sweetheart.
(Wordgirl races to Granny May's house and finds a horde of photo albums and some dusty yearbooks, that might prove benefical, and then races back to the jail.)
Wordgirl/Becky: I hope these are all of them. Plus I grabbed some yearbooks.
Granny May: My, I haven't laid my eyes on these yearbooks in years. (Blows off the dust.)
Wordgirl/Becky: So, when were you born?
Granny May: I was born in 1932, just at the start of the Depression. And, believe me, this town suffered during the Depression, just like every other city in this country.
Wordgirl/Becky: I can only imagine what that must've been like.
Granny May: That's true. It was hard then. My mama and daddy already had a son before I was born. He was about 5 when I was born. His name was Joseph and he and I were inseparable. You know what that means?
Wordgirl/Becky: Of course. Inseparable means always together and unble to be separated. In this case, you're saying that you and your older brother were so close that you two were inseparable. That's sounds like a great brother/sister relationship.
Granny May: You got that right. Joseph was always taking me everywhere he went. It was great. I had a great family. We weren't too big, but we were great. My great-great grandparents came to Fair City from the Southern East Coast in 1865. My Great-great Grandpappy helped in the Civil War when he was 18.
Wordgirl/Becky: Wow, you know a lot about your family's history. I wish I knew mine.
Granny May: Someday you will, my dear. So anyway, when I was around 9, my father had enlisted into the US Army and he shipped out the next day to go fight in Germany. He was a great soldier, like his father and grandfather before him. He really gave the Nazis a reason to surrender. Then when the war in Europe was over, he was called to help out in the Pacific. But then, that's when he was killed in battle. My mother, brother, and I were told that he had been killed, while helping another soldier, who was wounded.
Wordgirl/Becky: I'm sorry to hear that. I don't know how it must've felt to lose your father like that. What was he like?
Granny May: My father was the best father there was. He was always there to tell me stories and he taught me a lot. And he didn't care if I was a girl, he would teach me how to play sports and he always loved to hear my stories about my day in school. He came to all of my school functions. So when he was killed, I was upset that he'll never be able to do those things anymore. (She thinks about her father and begins to shed a few tears.) He would be so disappointed in what I'm doing now. He always told me to always do the right thing.
Wordgirl/Becky: You can always change your ways and try to do good things.
Granny May: We'll talk about that later.
(While they are talking, some of the other villains are listening in on Granny May's life story and they too become upset when she talked about the death of her father.)
Wordgirl/Becky: So what happened after your father's death?
Granny May: Well, my mother was left to raise my brother and myself. She had a job, but it wasn't enough to pay the mortgage on her house. The same house she still lives in now. So, my mother's parents came to live with us for awhile. It was great, having my grandparents there. My grandma would teach me to sew and my grand pappy would teach my brother and I about fishing, while my mother worked. She sometimes had to work so much that I hardly saw her for barely two minutes in the day.
Wordgirl/Becky: So how was school for you?
Granny May: I went to the same school that all the kids are still going to. Woodview Elementary. It was and still is a great school.
Wordgirl/Becky: I have to agree with you on that one.
Granny May: We had the best teacher. Mrs. Owen, was my fifth grade teacher. She was the best teacher and she didn't take any lip from anyone.
Wordgirl/Becky: So a student like, say, Tobey, wouldn't have gotten away with bad behavior?
Granny May: Oh no. A kid like Tobey wouldn't last a day. The teachers in that school now are a bunch of slackers compared to Mrs. Owen.
Wordgirl/Becky: Yeah, I have to agree with you. The teachers at Woodview now are tough, but probably not as much as your teacher.
Granny May: So then in 1948, I met my future husband. His name was Keith. We hit it off like from the start.
Wordgirl/Becky: Sounds like a nice guy.
Granny May: He was. He treated me like a queen and he took me dancing and to movies and everything.
Wordgirl/Becky: Sounds like a fun time. I would really love to do that someday.
Granny May: You're just a baby, give it time and when the right guy comes along, you'll know. We girls have a way of finding the right guy, even though we sometimes fall for the wrong guys. So anyway, our first real date was the prom. I was nominated for Prom Queen and I won. (She then opens her photo album and shows Wordgirl a picture of herself when she was crowned Prom Queen.)
Wordgirl/Becky: Wow, that's a beautiful crown.
Granny May: So after we graduated in 1950, Keith proposed to me and we got married like a year later in 1951.
Wordgirl/Becky: Aw, high school sweethearts get married. That sounds like something I want.
Granny May: Every girl wants to marry her high school sweetheart. We decided to hold off having children until we finished college. Then in 1952, my brother had gone to help out in Korea and he was killed. I had just become pregnant at the time, but when I heard about the death of my older brother, I was so upset that I lost the baby. (She then begins to shed tears as she begins to remember that time.)
Wordgirl/Becky: I'm so sorry to hear that. I know if it were me who lost a sibling, I would be very upset too. Especially since you said earlier that you and your brother were very close.
Granny May: We were very close. He even walked me down the aisle at my wedding, since my father was killed in WW2. It took me a long time to get over his death and I had several other miscarriages as a result. First we lost my father in WW2 and then my brother in Korea. My husband had enlisted to go and fight in Korea too, but by the time it was his turn to go, the war had ended.
Wordgirl/Becky: Did your brother have a wife and kids of his own?
Granny May: Yes, he did. He had a wife and two daughters and a son. After my brother died, they moved from Fair City to Seattle so her family could help her raise her children. I haven't seen them since then.
Wordgirl/Becky: So when did you start having children?
Granny May: Well, in 1960 was when I started having my own children. My first born, Edwin. He has two kids now. My second son, Robert. He has one child, Eugene. And then my daughter, Agnes. She has two kids. (She then shows pictures of her three children.) These are pictures of my children when they were just babies.
Wordgirl/Becky: Wow. And that's you?
Granny May: That's right, Dearie. And this is a picture of me on my wedding day.
Wordgirl/Becky: Beautiful gown.
Granny May: Thanks. I gave it to my daughter when she got married. And now she wants to give it to her daughter.
Wordgirl/Becky: It looks like it's been modified since you wore it.
Granny May: Yeah, Agnes wanted to make it slightly different.
Wordgirl/Becky: So when are we going to get to the part where you decided to turn to life of crime?
Granny May: I'm getting to that. After my daughter graduated and got married, Keith and I were alone together and proud to be grandparents. I was still working at my 'real' job.
Wordgirl/Becky: Which was?
Granny May: I was a nurse at the hospital.
Wordgirl/Becky: Wow, that sounds like a great job. What happened?
Granny May: Four years before my husband died, I had decided to retire from my job.
Wordgirl/Becky: You retired from your job as a nurse but you won't retire from being a villain?
Granny May: I know. I should retire from that too, but I don't want to.
Wordgirl/Becky: I guess.
Granny May: So when I was 65, my husband had gotten an ulcer and that's how he died. (She is still upset from the loss of her husband.)
Wordgirl/Becky: That was ten years ago. That was when Huggy and I came to Earth. So you've been a villain since then?
Granny May: No, not at all. When my husband died, my income was so low, that I almost had to sell me house. So I decided to panhandle. I used the poor, little, old-lady trick and people would give me their money out of guilt. Then I started shoplifting and then I would take the stolen items to the pawn shop and they would give me money for those items I stolen. Then I started pick-pocketing people. And I did that for quite awhile.
Wordgirl/Becky: So that day that I met you, when you first robbed the jewelry store and you had Eugene help you…
Granny May: That was one of my first major crimes. I needed Eugene's help.
Wordgirl/Becky: Did your son know that you were using Eugene to help you commit a crime?
Granny May: No, he didn't. So anyway, after Eugene quit working with me, I had to start using some of the equipment that I made. My armor, my perfume, breath mints, and my knitting needles. I had made some of those earlier, but with Eugene helping me, I didn't need to use them all.
Wordgirl/Becky: Before you started committing crimes, were there other villains? I'm not talking about Butcher and Doc.
Granny May: Oh there sure was. Even back before my husband died, there were villains. Most of them had died or moved to other towns, but the ones that are still around are Kid Potato and Hal Hardbargen. Mr. Big had just opened his office, he didn't even have an assistant then either.
Wordgirl/Becky: I'll ask Mr. Big about his past later. Well, I'm sorry for all your losses, Granny May. But I wish that you would give up on crime. I really admire you and your spirit. But it makes me sad that someone who is sweet and wise would use her intelligence to commit crime after crime. I was always told to respect my elders and I do respect you, but how is that possible when my elders are committing crimes?
Granny May: Wordgirl, I understand what you're saying and someday, I will give up being a villain. It is taking a toll on my health and my relationships with my children and grandchildren. But I've been doing this type of thing for ten years and it's hard to give it up all together. And let me just say that you are a sweet super hero who is willing to let us villains have many chances to change. Most villains in other towns don't always get that chance.
Wordgirl/Becky: Well, I have faith in you and the other villains all the time. It will be thrilling to one day come here and never see you or your fellow villains in this jail again, because you all changed your lives for the better. That is one of my greatest wishes.
Granny May: Then what would you do if you don't have villains to chase around and battle?
Wordgirl/Becky: Well, I don't know. But, I said it once and I'll say it again, this is my home and I'm never leaving, no matter what.
Granny May: That's good to hear.
Wordgirl/Becky: But getting back to what you said before about your choices and what it's doing to your relationships with your children and grandchildren. I'm sure they love you no matter what you do, but at the same time, they want you to be a good person and they want you to change your evil ways.
Granny May: Well, I don't know…
Wordgirl/Becky: You're probably going to say something like, you're too old to change now. But you're never too old to change. And you have a lot of spirit and spunk in you still, that I only hope that I'll have as much youthful spirit as you do, when I'm 75.
Granny May: You will, my child. And whoever you decide to marry, he will be one lucky young man.
Wordgirl/Becky: Thanks. Well, I enjoyed talking to you, Granny May. You are one great woman. If you weren't a villain, I would consider you one of my best friends.
Granny May: Even though I'm older than you are?
Wordgirl/Becky: Age doesn't mean anything when it comes to friendship. I have to get going now. I'll see you later.
Granny May: You will, Child. It was nice talking to you and I appreciated the fact that you listened to my life story.
Wordgirl/Becky: As I said, I loved listening to your story and I have a newfound respect for you as well.
(With that, Wordgirl puts her hand through the bars and she and Granny May shake hands.)
(And then Wordgirl walks past some of the other villains and she smiles at them as well as she heads home.)
The End…
