Polly’s Photograph

by

Mary McLoughlin.

Polly stood back and looked at the photo in the frame she had just hung on her wall in her bedroom, it was of a young girl dressed in a sailor suite with a straw-hat with a deep ribbon tied around the middle of the hat, it was hanging around her neck, she had massive deep eyes and lovely long curly fair hair with a beautiful smile on her face. She was extremely pretty, and it was incredibly old, eighty years if not older. It was given to her yesterday as a leaving present from her Great Aunt Doris, who she had been visiting in Oban, Scotland for the weekend.

She had commented on how much she liked it, looking at it she could see a resemblance to herself when she was a young girl, it fascinated her. She stood admiring it when she saw the girl in the photo on her wall BLINK. She thought, “I must be imagining things, but I am sure it just blinked at me.”

She went downstairs and phoned her Aunt Doris and asked her about the photo. Did she know who it was? How old is it? Her Aunt Doris said, she had bought it about ten years ago at the Summer Fair at her local methodist Church, she had liked it, she did not know who it was or how old it was but judging by the clothes it looked late Edwardian. She said, “You are fascinated with it I can tell; I was when I bought it, sometimes I felt the little girl was looking at me, watching me, as if she knew me it was very comforting.”

Polly then asked her if the photo had ever blinked at her, Aunt Doris said, no why do you ask? Polly told her that the photo had just blinked at her. “Her Aunt said perhaps you imagined it.” Polly agreed and thanked her aunt for the Photo and a lovely weekend and told her she would ring her next week before hanging up. She then went and put the kettle on and made herself a coffee, she sat down on the sofa and reflected on her weekend with her favourite Aunt.

Her Great Aunt Doris was her late grandmother’s twin sister; she was eighty-four years old and very independent and extremely agile for her age.

Her maternal grandparents had brought Polly up as her parents had been killed when she was only three months old in a traffic accident and she was an only child. Her Grandfather passed away when she was thirteen, she remembered how he would tell her bedtimes stories and tell her she was her mother's twin in looks and temperament.

Sadly, her grandmother died five years ago, aged seventy-nine and now her only living relative was her Great Aunt Doris, apart from her paternal grandfather who lived in a care home in Wales and had Dementia. Polly had inherited her Grandparents home, she was twenty- eight years old and was a Primary school teacher, which she loved, and working with the reception class.

Her mobile rang; it was her fiancée Harry, they were getting married in three months and she had been up to Scotland to see if her Great Aunt Doris would be able to travel for the Wedding, which she had told her she would not miss for the world. He asked her if she wanted him to come round after his football training, she said “Yes I want to show you something.” She hung up and went back to her bedroom and looked at the photo on the wall, it seemed to stare straight at her, but it did not blink, she thought I must have imagined it.

Harry called round after his football training he was also a teacher at the local secondary school he taught P.E and was five years older than Polly they had met last year at a conference and discovered they both liked the same music and both loved teaching, They got engaged at Christmas and Polly fitted in well with his family he had two younger sisters and a younger brother, he still lived at home with his parents who Polly liked so much.

“What are you going to show me?” asked Harry, she showed him the framed photograph she had put on the wall and said, “It blinked at me.” Harry laughed and said, “You must be joking, he looked at the photo and said it is very pretty, her eyes look like yours.” Polly said she though it reminded her of

when she was a young girl, I will look at the old photograph albums in the loft this week, we need to sort the stuff out in there if we want to turn the loft into a home Office. They spent the evening together planning their honeymoon to Greece, and she told him about her Great Aunt and what a lovely weekend she had had, it was half term so they were off for the rest of the week ,Harry asked if she wanted to go for a day out on Tuesday as he had markings to catch up on tomorrow, she agreed and said “I will clear some stuff from the loft tomorrow.”

Before she went to bed that night, she looked at the photo it did fascinate her just as she turned it blinked at her, she thought, “I was right you did blink at me, I wonder why, and who you where?” She dreamt that night of her grandmother and how they would put the photos in the albums and then her grandmother told her that the photograph in the frame would not harm her it was sent to watch over her, and she would discover who it was and then understand.

After breakfast the next morning Polly went up the stairs to the loft, it had a roof window which let in the beautiful sunlight and her grandfather had put a wooden floor in, all her old toys like her rocking horse and dolls house were kept in this attic, she went to the old chest in the corner of the room and found some of the albums and at the bottom of the chest she saw a large envelop yellowed with age, she did not remember this, she sat on her grandmothers rocking chair and after looking at some of her precious memories, she opened the envelop which had a letter and a photograph in it.

She gave out a gasp as she looked at the photograph; it was the same photo she had in the picture frame in her bedroom. She just stared at it then turned it over and saw what was written on the back. It said, “Polly aged seven in her new Sailors outfit, August the 8th 1920.” In brackets it said (My Mother), and it was her grandmother's handwriting. How could this be? It was bought at a summer fair in Oban. She knew her grandmother came from Scotland, but how did the picture get there?

She opened the letter and read:

My dearest Polly,

I love this photograph of you as a young child.

I have had a copy of it made and had it framed,

it is in hanging on my Office Wall at the Port Office of Glasgow,

so, I can look at whilst I am working,

Sometimes it feels like you blink when I look at you.

You were such a beautiful child and are now a beautiful woman who I will give away at your Wedding next week.

All my love always,

Yours

Alfred, your loving Father.

Polly smiled and remembered what her Aunt Doris said about it being comforting, the Photograph and found its way back to its family and it was her Great Grandmother whose name was Polly.

The End.