It's been four days since Mum talked to me.  I had to put all my things in a big suitcase and Mum almost sold the house.  Unfortunately, the first person to look at the house didn't want to buy the house because he claimed that my room was so ugly.  Then came a second and then a family, who then bought the house.  Today we are leaving.  Mum talks a lot with the new owners and then she loads the bags.  The journey took a full 5 hours in the car.  Mum smoked about 20 cigarettes and then got hungry for whiskey chocolates.  It was strange because we didn't have any with us.  At some point when it was only 20 minutes away, Mum stopped in a parking lot.  Then she woke me up.  I had slept and was fitter again than before.  Then I had to comb my hair and put on something better.  Then we drove on.
"Mum, did you actually tell Grandma that we're coming?"
"No Mds darling, I haven't seen her in 19 years.  At the time I was 14 at a boarding school and then just ran away.  We were arguing.  She doesn't even know that I've had a relationship before and she doesn't know that she has a granddaughter.  I am your only child.  Her husband died when I was 13 and since then she has lived alone in her big house.  The last time I called her 16 years ago was when I was single and now I'm divorced. "
"And what do you think, she thinks, if we just show up with her and tell her that we want to live with her?"
"It doesn't matter, I think she is very open to many things."
A little later, Mum drives into a parking lot in front of a large house.  The house looks pretty cool from the outside, it certainly has many rooms.  There would definitely be room to live, since Grandma is alone.
"Mds darling, I think we're there.  Get out and ring the bell, I'll get behind you. "
"OK."
I'm pretty excited about what's coming up.  What if grandma gets angry right away and doesn't let us live with him or something.  What if she hits me or complains that I should disappear.  It all whizzed through my head and only wanted to disappear when Mum tapped me from behind: "Mds, are you still alive?  Come on, ring the bell. "
With trembling hands, my fingers move very carefully in the direction of the bell and I press firmly.

Marga's view

I'm cooking when suddenly the doorbell rings.  It can only be Evelyn.  Or Mrs. Puckle with the blackberry chocolates.  I quickly wash my hands and shout: "I'll be right there!". I briefly take my apron off my body and hurry to the door as quickly as possible. I had barely pressed the handle and the door was fully open ...

Mds point of view

The door opens and in front of us is an old woman with auburn shorter hair.  That must be my grandma.  She looks a lot like me and Mum and it seems like she could be very nice.  She looks briefly at first and then falls into a rather long hug with Mum.
"Oh little daughter!  How long has it been?!  I've already missed you so much!  You're finally here again! "
She sobbed in Mum's shoulders.  At some point, after what felt like 3 minutes, the two let go and Grandma looked at me.
"Hi who are you?"
"So, I'm Mds, Doreen's daughter.  I'm 14 years old and yes, you're sure to be a grandma! "
"But Doreen, you didn't tell me that you had a daughter! And that she was so old! I'm a grandma and I didn't know that - but well and what's your name again?"
"Mds."
"Is that your real name?"
"Yes, Mum named me that."
"Mds?!? It's not a name. So Doreen - what were you thinking?"
"Yes Mum, well, I think - I have to go out for a minute, smoke, Jessica still has to call."
"Stop!!  Why are you here? "
I thought for a moment and then replied: "Mum was fired, Dad left us and we couldn't pay for the house. So we have to live here, Mum said. She said you were very open to many things - and yes".
"Mhm, that's how it is.  Well, yes, of course, you can stay here.  I always feel so alone anyway and now that I know I'm a grandma I want to spend a lot of time with my granddaughter.  Should I show you the house? "
"Yes gladly!"
Grandma is really nice so far.  I think it's great that we move in with her and now she shows me the house too, I'm so excited to see where I will sleep.
"So that's the hallway and here it goes straight into the living area and there is also the dining table and the kitchen."
The kitchen looks like a bar without a stool and behind it is a large room, there is the actual kitchen - I think it's cool.
"And here's another guest room and there's the loo out there on the stairs, and up here there's the bathroom, my bedroom, the big guest room, your mom's room, and the small guest room."
I think the house is totally cool.  The large guest room has two single beds and the small and the lower one has a double bed.  The kitchen is great, and so is the bathroom.  Grandma's bedroom is fully beautiful.  Me and Mum would probably live in the large guest room and use the lower toilet as a bathroom.  When we got back to the kitchen, it smelled like vegetables.
"Oh grandma, I'm just so happy that I now know that I have a grandma and that we can live with you!  Mum never really liked me and I was never treated very well by her, she smokes and drinks a lot - I don't like that about her, and I have to be in my room every day and can only come down to eat and wash.  You can eat fries with ketchup almost every lunchtime and evening, and cornflakes with milk for breakfast and only one apple at school.  I didn't like my old school so much;  I had no friends and not that many school supplies.  Recently my fountain pen broke and then I had to write with my pencil stub.  I wish maybe my grandma could cook, that would be so great. "
"Oh Mds, that's bad and of course I can cook, very good, I think."
"For real?"
I suddenly had to swallow and my tears came slowly.  Grandma pulled me into a pretty warm hug and whispered in my ear: "I think it's so great that you are here with me!  I always dreamed of having a granddaughter once. "I sobbed a little and hugged her even more. At some point she let go of me and then we went into the kitchen.
"Look, I made stew.  Would you like to try it? "
She took a small spoonful of stew, blew it briefly and then shoved the whole thing into my mouth.  It tasted delicious, really indescribably delicious.
"Oh grandma, it tastes fabulous!  I've never tasted anything so good! "
Then Grandma smiled and said: "Oh child, I know how to cook.  I know a lot of dishes, but I prefer to eat stew. "
Then we went into the hallway.  There was mom.  I had to bring my suitcase to the guest room, then I was allowed to come back down and I helped Grandma with the tablecloths.  I got plates, cutlery and glasses and nicely set the table.
"Mds, what do you want to drink with your meal? Juice? Lemonade? Or water?"
"Hmmm, lemonade."
"Okay, then lemonade."
Grandma went to the kitchen and got a bottle of lemonade.  She shook the bottle and poured a little of it into a glass with water.
"Done, you can sit down."
Mum had been watching us all the time while pushing around on her smartphone and didn't seem to be very enthusiastic about the whole thing with the soda.  Then Grandma came back with a big saucepan full of stew.  She put it on the table and said: "Mds, you will get first, you are now the granddaughter!"  She put a ladle of stew in my plate and finally asked: "Bread to add, my dear?" "Yes, gladly," I replied.
When everyone had something to eat, Grandma spoke up: "Nice that you are here, then, bon appetit". I started to eat, it tasted adorable, like before in the kitchen. I made five plates full, with bread  and drank three glasses of lemonade with water. Then Grandma showed me a few things I should know if I and Mum moved in with her and then she played with me. I still knew the game from my old school. I won three times  and Grandma five times. Sometime around 5 in the afternoon an older woman came to Grandma with chocolates. Grandma said that this woman was her boss and that the chocolates tasted like blackberry. I was allowed to try them.
"Mds, what do you think of the idea that we go into town;  I want to show you something."
"Oh, I think that's a good idea.  I want to know where you live, what your home looks like. "
So I and Mum went into town with Grandma.  It was really nice there.  We went to a nice shop with dishes.  There I was allowed to choose a nice cup.  And we also went to the park and to the fish pond.  In the evening when we were back, I quickly ate bread and then went to bed and fell asleep.

The next vacation days passed pretty quickly, I already felt really at home with Grandma.  She had shown me a lot in the city.  There is also a high school where I might go to school and there is also a pub and a large department store and many small shops and a market.  But the best thing I found was Grandma's stew, which was served almost every day.  Mum had always been very quiet since we were with Grandma.  She often went out to have a drink, call a friend and smoke one or more.  But today, when I woke up, everything seemed to me as before: as if life had gone back to my mother.  I was awakened by a pretty audible cry from my mum: "Get up mds, there is breakfast, but zack!" She said coldly. I got up and dressed quickly, then went down to breakfast. When I was down in the dining room  When I got there, Mum and Grandma sat there, breakfasting eggs with ham. I was just about to sit down and have some breakfast on my plate when Mum came out of the kitchen: "Mds here, I made breakfast for you," she said  put a bowl of cornflakes on the table.  I looked first at the bowl then at Mum.
"Come on, eat your breakfast now, but zack zack so you can go up to your room."
I took the spoon and started to eat quickly.  It tasted sick.
"Mum, the cornflakes are disgusting!"
"No matter, you eat them now, zack zack, then you go up to your room!"
I ate the cornflakes with milk as fast as I could, even though I was going to vomit.  Then I went up to my room.  Grandma glared at Mum as I went upstairs.  I found that really sad that Mum just takes everything away from me.  Up in the room, I was bored on the bed.  At some point, after what felt like 3-4 hours, Mum came to tell me something: "Mds darling, I have to go shopping in the city.  Please stay up here in the room and don't go outside, did you understand me? ".
"Yes mom, but why shouldn't I have to deal with Grandma anymore?  You are taking my best time away from me! "
"Always your grandma!  It will only spoil you too much!  You didn't deserve that!  You are just someone in this world of survival and should eat and drink so as not to die and go to school to learn something!  I would beat you up! "
"Oh no, and you also have nothing to tell me what my grandma does to me and what I can do!  Grandma is the nicest person in the world! "I made that clear!
Mum went out of the room, I was sad and I was bored again.  At some point when Mum was driving the car out of the driveway, I thought to myself I'll see what's going on downstairs.  Maybe Grandma is happy when I come down.  So when I wanted to go down, I noticed that Mum had locked the door from the outside.
"Crap!" I swore and pounded on the door, just gently since it's not my house or my room. But Grandma didn't hear it. Probably she's downstairs in the kitchen and cooking. Mum comes about 20 minutes later  Unfortunately she doesn't hear anything from my soft knocking. I scream out loud: "HIIIIIIIIIIIIILFEEEEEEEEEEEE", then Mum comes into the room: "is what?".
"Yes mom, I'm locked up!"
"Well, there is a reason for that and now come down to dinner."
The table is already set down in the dining room.  Two plates, cutlery for everyone and 3 glasses.
"Where's the third plate of mum?"
"In the kitchen."
"Sit down granddaughter," said Grandma. "What do you want to drink?"
"Hmm, juice."
"Juice today, so juice."
Grandma went to the kitchen to get a juice bottle when Mum holds it back: "Stop" The child will definitely not get any juice. It doesn't deserve it! ".
"Oh but!  And how!"
Mum is angry.  Grandma doesn't give me any more juice, but there is water.  I sit down.  Mum comes and puts a plate of french fries with ketchup in front of me.
"I bought them especially for you, my child, so you have something to eat and now you eat, but Zack Zack!"
Mum makes french fries with ketchup - honestly!  And grandma cooked delicious stew again!
"You call that decent food Doreen?  My stew is much healthier!  Throw the fries away and let the child eat stew. "
"No!" Said Mum.
Grandma got angry and sad at the same time.
"I'd rather stew, grandma!" I said.
Grandma smiled: "Of course you will get stew, granddaughter!"
Mum became even more acidic.
"Eat your fries now or get out of here and go up to the room, but zack zack!"
So I quickly started eating the dead boring chips with ketchup.  Grandma was sad.  Me too.  Mum was happy.  After that I had to go back into the room for the rest of the day.  In the evening I was allowed to eat chips with ketchup again and then I went to bed.  Mum smoked a lot again today and drank one schnapps after the other.  I couldn't fall asleep in bed half the night, it smelled like alcohol and cigarettes all the time.  At some point I went down for a drink.  It was already half past nine in the night.  When I got back up I just couldn't take it anymore.  I took my bedding and went to bed with my grandmother.
"Can not you sleep?"
"No grandma, the room smells horrible of alcohol and cigarettes and I can't sleep. I was just having a drink downstairs and I just can't take it in the room anymore!"
"Oh God!"
Grandma pulled me a little closer and I snuggled up to her.
"Mum is bad, I hate her."
"That's right Mds, today she drank and smoked to the point of gassing, but now sleep first."
So I huddled my head against her body and fell asleep.

So this chapter has gotten quite long, but I hope you enjoy it.  The next chapter will likely be a little shorter, but I'm not sure yet.  But I know how to go on.  So have fun reading!
Madeline Mcgonagall