Grandad Forbids Anyone to Look under His Old Mattress, Only after His Death Girl Peeps In – Story of the Day

Erica and her entire family always wondered what Grandpa Paul kept hidden under his bed. After he died, she and her cousin snooped, expecting to find his greatest treasure. In a way, it was a treasure, but there were no jewels except for the ones in the pictures.

“Grandma, why can’t we look under Granddad’s bed?” Erica remembered asking her grandmother the same questions several times over the years.

“Because he said so, dear,” Grandma Linda would always say.

“Would we get in trouble?” Erica’s cousin, Mark, would add.

“Yes. A lot of trouble, and when Grandpa gets angry, he can be a real ogre!” she told them, pulling her hands up and acting like she would catch them. It was always a joke between them. But all the cousins had heard the same restrictions.

Erica’s mother told her to respect her elders and never question them again. Mark’s father explained a little more, “Dad has kept something secret under his bed for many years, but all the siblings were still forbidden from seeing it. I know that even Mom has never peeked. I wondered about that and thought about snooping a little, but I was always afraid.”

“Why were you afraid, Uncle Charlie?” Erica wondered during that conversation.

“Kid, you might not understand this now, but there are some things you don’t want to discover, even if you’re curious. It’s just better to remain in the dark about stuff, and if someone goes to the trouble of hiding a secret, it’s better to leave it alone,” Mark’s father answered.

So, Mark and Erica decided to forget about it… until Grandpa Paul died a few years later.

Mark was 12, while Erica was 10 when their grandfather passed. But even at their age, the concept of death was so strange. It was hard to imagine never seeing their grandfather again, although the man had always been reserved.

He always remained in a corner during every family gathering. Their parents tried to explain that Grandpa Paul lived decades going to work and arriving home to shower and sleep. He never learned to participate in family events or gatherings, although Grandma Linda always pushed him.

Things were worse when he retired because he felt lost among all the family members. He didn’t know how to interact with kids because he had rarely been there when his own were growing up. He loved them all, but it was hard to talk to the grandkids, who were all so young.

He only spoke up when the kids got too close to his bedroom and would bark at them to stay away or something terrible would happen. While his words would work at the time, they also made the children even more curious. That’s why Mark and Erica always asked their parents and grandma about it.

Still, they eventually forgot about it and didn’t wonder again until they were bored at their grandfather’s funeral. “What’s going to happen to the things under Grandpa Paul’s bed?” she asked her cousin.

“OH!” Mark exclaimed, his eyes widening. “I guess someone will look now, huh? Grandma probably has to clean it up.”

“Hmmm,” Erica mumbled.

“If she cleans it up, she won’t tell us what it is,” she continued, pursing her lips.

“Yes, she will,” Mark shook his head. “We learned about inheritance in class the other day. It was in the book… I don’t remember the title. Anyway, when someone dies, his family gets all his things, and they divide it.”

“So, Grandma will give us his stuff?”

“I don’t know,” Mark shrugged. “Maybe. If it’s something good. OH! Maybe, it’s money. Or, uh, treasure!”

Erica smiled slightly. “Treasure? You think that’s why Grandpa kept it a secret?”

“It must be!” Mark nodded eagerly.

“But I still don’t think Grandma will give us anything,” Erica tilted her head.

“Because it’s hers. Or she’ll give it to Mom, Dad, Uncle Charlie, Aunt Marie, and the rest,” Erica said. “We’re kids. They won’t give us any money.”

“That means we have to find the treasure first!” Mark said.

“Find?” she scoffed and gave her cousin a speculative look. “We know where it is! We just need to reach it first!”

“Yes! Dad said we’re going to Grandma’s house after. Let’s wait until everyone is distracted and go to Grandpa’s room,” Mark planned, twisting his hands like a villain. “But let’s not tell anyone else. I don’t want Andy, Luca, and Camille to see.”

“Deal!” Erica agreed, not wanting to include their other cousins in the adventure. Now that they had a plan, the funeral seemed to take a million years to end. Erica started tapping on the floor impatiently until her mother gave her a stern look.

Mark kept twisting his tie, but his father slapped his hands down discreetly so the person speaking wouldn’t get distracted. The cousins were tired, and it looked like every guest would make a speech. It was also terrible that, as the eldest of their generation, they were expected to behave while their other cousins ran around.

At last, everyone started filing out. “Mom! Hurry up,” Erica whined, seeing Mark and his parents going to the parking lot. She feared he would jump the gun and go into Grandpa’s bedroom without her.

“Erica, please,” her mother scolded, and she had to calm down. Luckily, her father urged them all to get into their cars. She almost jumped out of her seat as they approached her grandparents’ street. Mark was waiting outside.

“Erica!” her father yelled when she opened the door before the car stopped.

“Sorry, Dad!” she called out and reached Mark. “Thanks for waiting.”

Mark looked sheepish. “I almost went in. There were so few people around. But I got scared.”

“Remember what my dad said before?” he began, wrinkling his nose. “About things that you may not want to know? What if it’s not a treasure?”

“Well,” Erica thought. “If it’s nothing, we’ll just leave it down there and pretend we never peeked. We’ll forget about it. Unless you changed your mind.”

“No! I still want to see,” Mark nodded, almost to himself. “Let’s go in and wait until the right moment.”

They mingled for a while, greeting adults they’d never met who could only talk about how much they had grown up and other nonsense. At one point, most people were outside, so Erica looked at her cousin meaningfully, and they went back into the house.

“I’ve been thinking,” Erica whispered as they wandered into the bedroom, closing the door behind them. “I don’t think it’ll be a big treasure. I mean, how much can you hide under the mattress?”

“I know my parents hide all their important documents,” Mark said as they looked around. “They told me my birth certificate and other stuff is there because it’s a great place to hide things.”

“Maybe it’s something like that. Papers and stuff,” Erica reached his side in front of the bed. “Should we stop?”

“No, let’s peek. If it’s nothing, we’ll go outside,” Mark said definitively.

“OK,” Erica said. The mattress was lighter than they expected. She lifted it quickly and moved it to the side. There was a big, thick envelope. “I think that’s it. His hidden stash.”

“So, it’s just documents?” Mark was disappointed.

“Let’s look inside,” Erica suggested, licking her lips. She opened the stash, but it didn’t consist of documents. There were some papers, but they contained words written by hand. But most of all, the cache had pictures.

“What is this?” Mark squinted, looking at the many Polaroids that Erica took out.

“Photos, I guess,” she shrugged.

“No, look!”

Mark gave her one, and she squinted, too. The picture showed a woman dressed in a sequin red gown with extravagant jewelry, red heels, and big hair. “Who is this?”

“Oh my God!” Erica fake-whispered. “This is Grandpa’s other woman?”

“Yeah,” Erica continued. “I hear mom and her neighbor talking about another neighbor’s husband who got another woman. He was cheating on her. You think this is Grandpa’s other woman?”

Mark looked dubious. “I guess that’s possible, but keeping this under his bed is weird. Let me look at the other photos.”

Erica passed photos, perusing them, too. But they all featured the same woman. Sometimes, she was on a chair, laughing. Other times, she was on a stage, singing.

“AAAH!” Mark exclaimed suddenly. His eyes stared at Erica in horror.

“What? What?”

“It’s not another woman,” Mark said, breathless. “It looks like my dad.”

Mark passed her the Polaroid he had seen. This one featured the same person, but she didn’t have the hair or the clothes. She was in a makeup chair, holding a brush to her face. However, in this photo, she didn’t look like a woman at all. Mark was right. It looked like Uncle Charlie.

Erica turned it around. The year “1973” had been written in pen. “It can’t be your dad,” she said. “It’s an old photo… which means…”

“It’s Grandpa Paul,” Mark completed her thought.

“Grandpa Paul was a drag queen, I think,” Erica added. “My mother loves RuPaul. This is what they do. Men dress like women and perform.”

“This is impossible,” he shook his head.

“No, this is it! It’s him in all the pictures,” Erica skimmed the back of the images, looking at all the dates. “I remember Grandma said they got married in 1975. And the latest photo says 1974. Grandpa gave it up and got married.”

“Jeez!” Mark exhaled. “Now I understand what my dad said about secrets you shouldn’t know.”

“I guess,” Erica nodded slightly. “But it’s sad, right? I think Grandpa had to hide who he was. From everyone.”

“Dad said this is a different time where more lifestyles are accepted,” Mark nodded, thinking to himself. “So, Grandpa was expected to get married and live like other men.”

“Yeah,” she continued. “I feel so bad for him. I wish he could’ve told someone.”

“Me too,” Mark pouted. “What do we do now?”

“Put it back?”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “I mean, grandma’s gonna look. I’m sure she already has. This stay between us, alright?”

“Deal! Erica nodded. They both placed everything back, put the mattress in its place, peeked into the hallway, and went to the party as if nothing happened.

They never told anyone, and no one in the family ever said anything. But years later, when Erica turned 21, she and Mark went to a drag club and made a toast.

“To Grandpa Paul,” he said, lifting his glass. “We kept your secret, but we wished you could’ve lived your real self.”

“Hear, hear!” Erica smiled as the lights went down and the first performer appeared.

Tell us what you think about this story, and share it with your friends. It might inspire them and brighten their day.

If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a man who forbade his wife from entering a room in the house, but she heard crying from there one day.

This piece is inspired by stories from the everyday lives of our readers and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only. Share your story with us; maybe it will change someone’s life. If you would like to share your story, please send it to info@amomama.com.