{"id":470,"date":"2020-05-29T12:00:03","date_gmt":"2020-05-29T12:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/?p=470"},"modified":"2020-05-29T12:32:28","modified_gmt":"2020-05-29T12:32:28","slug":"ninas-gift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/ninas-gift\/470\/","title":{"rendered":"Nina\u2019s Gift"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou okay?\u201d Nathaniel asked. His father looked up from his hunched posture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was just thinking about her,\u201d he said. \u201cBubbe Nina was a forceful woman.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStronger than most,\u201d Nathaniel agreed. \u201cDidn\u2019t she walk from France to Spain?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, in nineteen forty-one, just after the Rafle du Vel’ d’Hiv’,\u201d Lionel said. \u201cShe feared it would spread to the south.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A loud rap came from the front door and they jumped to their feet. Lionel waved his hand at Nathaniel, indicating he should sit again. The senior family member always greeted doctors. It was a measure of their importance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doctor Llewelyn was a jolly man, dressed in an old coat and carrying a battered medical bag. He beamed at Nathaniel as he entered and held out his hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cDoctor,\u201d Nathaniel acknowledged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve grown, Nathaniel,\u201d he said. \u201cI remember you as a boy, screaming the surgery down when you came for your jabs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m twenty now,\u201d Nathaniel said. \u201cSecond-year medical school\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReally?\u201d The doctor raised an eyebrow. \u201cWhich one?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUCH, London,\u201d Nathaniel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAn excellent school. I was at Barts,\u201d the doctor said, \u201cplayed your lot at rugby. Dirty bastards. Anyway, where\u2019s your grandmother?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the backroom,\u201d interjected Lionel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They moved single-file into the backroom, where Bubbe Nina sat in her chair, her body inclined forward. The doctor examined her briefly, then reached into his bag for a pad of Medical Certificates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHere, take this to the Register Office,\u201d he said, \u201cThey\u2019ll issue the Death Certificate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At that moment, Bubbe Nina fell forward crashing into the table, scattering a plate of uneaten biscuits across the floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHello, what\u2019s this?\u201d said Llewelyn reaching for an envelope partly hidden under the old woman\u2019s cushion. He handed it to Lionel, who tore open the flap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a title deed,\u201d said Lionel. He held up a sheaf of papers bearing a crest and the heading, \u2018Plans Cadastraux\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s for a property in the department of Haute-Garonne,\u201d he continued, \u201cnear Toulouse. A sizeable house by the look of things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve heard of this,\u201d said Llewelyn, \u201crefugees, I mean, holding on to deeds for property all over Europe, but not doing anything with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wonder why,\u201d Nathaniel mused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat would she have said?\u201d Lionel said shrugging his shoulders, \u201cWe used to own a house in France? It\u2019s ancient history now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, it\u2019s not,\u201d said Llewelyn, \u201cthere are cases of refugees regaining their family properties.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lionel thought for a moment, returned the deeds to the envelope and tossed them into the empty grate, then reaching into his pocket he pulled out an old Zippo lighter, flicked it open and lit the wick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDad,\u201d said Nathaniel, \u201cThat\u2019s Bubbe Nina\u2019s gift to us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, Nathaniel,\u201d said Lionel firmly, \u201cher gift to us was the wisdom to know when to let things be. She had her reasons not to pursue this and that is good enough for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that, he lit the pile of paper in the grate and watched as the past disappeared into smoky remnants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cYou okay?\u201d Nathaniel asked. His father looked up from his hunched posture. \u201cI was just thinking about her,\u201d he said. \u201cBubbe Nina was a forceful woman.\u201d \u201cStronger than most,\u201d Nathaniel agreed. \u201cDidn\u2019t she walk from France to Spain?\u201d \u201cYes, in nineteen forty-one, just after the Rafle du Vel’ d’Hiv’,\u201d Lionel said. \u201cShe feared it would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[121,246],"tags":[248,247],"class_list":["post-470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-121","category-june-2020-death","tag-gift","tag-nina"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-7A","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":472,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions\/472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}