THE NARRATIVE ARC
My Grandmother’s Stories Changed Our Relationship
Her unbelievable life stories drew me close
“If I’m still alive, then,” my 95-year-old grandmother said, her voice crackling through the phone. I paused, my throat tightening at her morbid sign-off. It was a melancholy way to end our chats, but I was grateful we were talking at all.
We’d maintained a cordial but distant relationship for most of our lives. Though I was the oldest of four grandchildren, I was far from her favorite. Our relationship was warm enough but never close-knit. That is, until recently.
Over the past few years, something has shifted. Our calls have become more frequent and extended into long conversations. This change stemmed from two unlikely sources: my newfound career as a writer and her gradually fading memory.
One evening, during a rare family dinner, my grandmother’s words froze my fork midway to my mouth. “You know,” she began, her eyes staring directly at me, “your great-grandfather was an illegal bootlegger. He even invented a popular cocktail.”
What followed was a tale worthy of Hollywood. It involved clandestine liquor production in the back of a clothing store, an enigmatic relative known as South American Joe, who returned from Brazil with an…
