Daisy Darker

by Alice Feeney

‘Yes, Mother?’ ‘I have left you my clocks, all eighty of them, in the hope that you might use the time you have left more wisely.’ His mouth falls open, but Nana continues without waiting for any words to spill out of it. ‘Nancy, my beloved daughter-in-law, you gave me three beautiful granddaughters, for which I will always be grateful. I am leaving you my drinks trolley. Like you, it’s now an antique but still good for holding liquor.’ My mother’s face is a picture I wish someone would paint, a beautiful mix of shock and outrage. My sisters are both grinning like the naughty school girls they used to be until Nana turns to them. ‘Rose, I am leaving you my unpublished artwork and brushes, in the hope that you might paint a happier future for yourself. Lily, when I die, all the mirrors in this house will belong to you, in the hope that you might see what you’ve become.’ Nobody is smiling now, including me. I’m terrified of what Nana might say next. ‘Daisy is the only person in this family who never asked me for a penny,’ she says, smiling in my direction. ‘I plan to leave a sizeable sum to her favourite charities.’