This is a story I heard from my “grandmother in law,” that is, my aunt’s husband’s mother when she was around eighty years old.
One afternoon, she was walking down the street by herself. She had visited the post office, and was now on her way home. It was a warm sunny day. The air was fresh, and she felt good and proud of herself for walking on her own.
Suddenly, a car approached and slowed down behind her. She felt her body become tense. “Why did this car suddenly slow down behind me?”
She continued to walk briskly without looking back. The car followed her. Now she really freaked out. She remembered the recent news story of an elderly lady getting kidnapped.
“Could this be one of those cases?” She thought to herself, and walked even faster. She was determined to protect herself from any harm just when she heard a familiar voice.
“Granny, granny!”
She stopped and listened carefully.
“Granny, granny!”
The voice was coming from behind her. It sounded very much like her daughter in law.
When she turned back, she saw her daughter in law waving from the car through the open window desperate to catch her attention.
“Good lord, you finally noticed me! Come quick inside!”
My grandmother in law was too surprised to say anything. She followed the instruction and climbed into the car. Her daughter in law was on her way back home from an errand.
“I called you many times, but you kept walking away from the car!” Her daughter in law was upset. She looked at my grandmother in law in search of some sort of explanation for her mysterious behaviour. My grandmother in law finally opened her mouth and said in a small voice. “I thought I was going to be kidnapped.”
When she told us the ending of this story in a family gathering, the whole room roared with laughter. I, in particular, laughed so hard that this story found a permanent spot in my memory.