Nothing but a Seamstress

by R Vidovix

My aunt Celestrina is nothing but a seamstress. She was born into a family who had no money and lived off the land. When she was eight, while she and her younger brother Virgil were gathering the goats, a snake bit Uncle Virgil and the silly girl, instead of running home to get help, carried him all the way home, and all because he begged her not to leave him alone. While she carried him in a hurry – she was always in a hurry – she fell into a fence and the barbed wire scratched her left eye – she was also very clumsy. By the time she got home, she had not only managed to get her brother bitten by a snake but she was also blind in one eye.

As the time passed, she became less clumsy but she was still doing things in a hurry. She learned to sew and because she was always in a hurry she would finish making a dress faster then the others, even though she should take longer, after all the fabric was expensive and that is how you make dresses. People took pity on her though and could find no fault with her.

When she was twenty-two, one of the labourers, who worked on the same farm as her parents worked, fell ill and although it was none of her business – she was always butting in where she shouldn't – she looked after him for weeks and weeks.

All that waste of time and effort paid off though because the man, who was almost as ugly as her and probably had never experienced a woman's touch in his life, fell in love with her, and a few months later they were married.

Her parents, who always had a soft spot for her, were so pleased. They said that they were so glad that their Celestrina had found someone to be happy with but the truth I guess, is that they never thought for a second that she would be so lucky as to find a man who would take her at all - clumsy, ugly, blind and all.
Within a few months, she was expecting her first child and was over the moon. She gave birth to Walter and from that day on the only thing that mattered was Walter.

When Walter was five, his father fell ill again but this time he got more and more sick and soon died. There was no money left even for the funeral and, if it wasn't for Uncle Virgil, Aunt Celestrina's husband would have been buried in the woods.

Two weeks after her husband died, Aunt Celestrina found out she was pregnant and, so conveniently, she had to move back in with her parents. The child, clumsy like her mother, finally arrived on the worst possible day of the year. It was the harvesting day when all hands were needed. If it wasn't for my mother who, unlike Aunt Celestrina, was pretty, not blind and had married well, she would have died. My mother and one of our maids kindly came to help her give birth to the little girl, who like her parents, was also very ugly, and died seven days later.

Time passed and Celestrina continued living with her parents. People felt sorry for her and often asked her to make their clothes. She made quite a bit of money that way which she stored away.
When Walter was seven, she decided to move to the nearest town because she wanted him to go to school. She could not afford it but again, people took pity on her and someone lent her a room in the back of the butchers and she moved in. She didn't have to pay rent, however. Instead, she had to make sausages with the meat left at the end of the day.

She lived there for almost two years when, one night, she put her finger through the mincing machine – she was still clumsy enough – and lost her job and her room. By this time, she had met a very rich and vain woman who said to her that if she made all her dresses for her, she could live in the small out-house in the back of the garden.

Aunt Celestrina lived there for four years until the woman had to move away. The woman, who was a good soul, had introduced Aunt Celestrina to the tailors and engineered her a job making trousers with them. Walter who had just quit his job as a shoe polisher and was now working as a delivery boy, earned some money that added to her meagre salary was enough to pay the rent of a small room not far from Walter's school.

When Walter was fifteen, a local businessman offered him a job as a cashier in his shop. Walter had been working for the man as a delivery boy for a while and the man knew he was an honest lad. My Aunt Celestrina did not let him take it, though. She said she had bigger plans for him. My Uncle Virgil, who had done well for himself, gave her enough money to pay rent for almost 6 months, but instead she used the money to send Walter to the big city to study more.

Walter, taking after his mother in terms of grandeur, decided to do Medicine. Obviously, Aunt Celestrina who could not afford the fees, also couldn't say 'no'. That was around the time when my Grandparents started complaining that they couldn't live alone much longer. Again, this time even more conveniently, Aunt Celestrina moved back with her parents with the excuse that she was going to look after them, and continued sending every penny to Walter.

She was so obsessed with making money for Walter that she would do housework when it was dark so she could spend the day sewing. Consequently, the house was no longer as clean as everybody else's house. My grandfather, who was blind to my Aunt Celestrina's faults, was always complaining about my Mum and we stopped visiting. Occasionally, when Uncle Virgil came to visit, we would get news that Walter was doing so well or that Grandmother had had another fall.

A few more months passed and one day Uncle Virgil came around to tell Mum that Aunt Celestrina had had a stroke. I was seventeen at the time and I was very annoyed because I was supposed to go to the city to buy a new dress for my cousin's wedding, when we got the news.
Mum, being a good soul that she is, did the shopping in a hurry and left the following day to be by Aunt Celestrina bedside. Uncle Virgil paid for Aunt Celestrina to be looked after in a hospital and being so lucky she didn't die.

Eventually, she recovered, and, if it wasn't for the limping and the weird voice, no one would have noticed anything different. She did become a bit uglier I suppose but she was already so ugly that it was hard to notice.

Walter was in his final year and needed all the money he could get so Aunt Celestrina, now no longer a fast seamstress, had to neglect the housework even more. The kitchen garden needed weeding, the orange and lemon trees needed trimming and they stopped making cheese.

The year passed very slowly and although my Mum went there a couple of times, there was very little she could do.

When Walter finally graduated, they didn't even invite my Mum and that was the last straw. Their excuse was that they only had six invitations. They invited Uncle Virgil and his wife, my grandparents, Aunt Celestrina and Walter's best friend. From that day on, we have not spoken to them. To be honest I can't understand why everyone seems to love and revere Aunt Celestrina. She is nothing but a seamstress.