Gertrude's Grief

• Isabella Martini
• Short Story
• 2006

Christmas had never been a particularly good time for Ms. Gertrude Stevens.
At the age of eighty-two, Gertrude had never married nor had any children. Gertrude hated children!! Being a school teacher in her early years, Gertrude had her fill of children and thought only bad news of them. She still remembers the day little Tommy Peters put a dead frog on her chair… she still shivers with fright and has since developed a phobia of frogs.

Gertrude hated Christmas as equally as she hated children as it was a fun-filled celebration involving family and cheer. On Christmas Eve, Gertrude had finished baking a cake and after washing up, she hung up to dry her pink polka dotted oven mit. While the winds raged and the rain came bucketing down on Christmas Eve, in the town of Coolock Water’s, Gertrude’s pink polka doted oven mit was stolen!

On Christmas day, Gertrude awoke to take down her washing but found that her oven mit was not on the line. Immediately calling the police, Gertrude filed a report over a missing oven mit and needed a forensic detective to solve her hefty crime. “The name’s Moore, Bob Moore and I’m a Forensic Detective from the Dark Moon academy.” The strange man bragged over his position in the community. “Listen here young man! I want my oven mit found!”
“Yeah yeah” His teeth glistened as he walked over to the scene of the crime.

“Now this apron, was it green?” Bob Moore asked Gertrude curiously.
“You silly man! First of all, this missing item is an OVEN MIT and second of all…this oven mit was a priceless heirloom given to me by my mother passed down from generations.” Detective Moore swiftly walked to his car.
“Oh well, why didn’t you say so…” Opening the boot of his car, he pulled out a paper bag containing the stolen oven mit.

You at home are probably thinking ‘Where was it?’ Well, here is your question answered! On the other side of town by the river, 18km from Gertrude’s cottage, was where the oven mit was located. ‘How did it get there?’ you’re probably thinking, well…On the cold and windy night, the oven mit had blown over the fence into the neighbour’s yard. A small Jack Russell was astounded to see an oven mit on the ground in his territory.

As the rain cleared, the dog decided to bury the mit in the sandbox at the local park. After doing so, the little dog trotted proudly back to his yard. Minutes later,
a toddler grasped the mit as her mother placed her in her pram to walk alongside the river. As they got to their destination, the toddler declined the oven mit and dropped the precious kitchen aid into the river. The oven mit was found in the grassy reeves by a fisherman who returned the item to the police.

Gertrude, after hearing where the oven mit had been, threw the precious item in bin and never wanted to see this oven mit again.