CAMBRIDGE, ON – At Green Lake Retirement Community on Thursday, Bertha Hallsworth, 82, was just making up names and stories about the pictures of people while looking at a photo album with her young grandchildren.
“That’s your great uncle Benjamin,” the old woman was overheard saying.
“He made a fortune selling real estate on the then newly discovered continent of Rhodesia, but died when the whole place sank into the Bering Strait.”
Her grandkids, Alex, 8, and Emily, 10, were apparently unaware that the often long and elaborate stories of men and women, seemingly from their grandmother’s earlier life, were complete fabrications, and politely listened to the bald faced lies coming from the octogenarian’s mouth.
“That was my cousin Pamela,” she said pointing to a black and white picture of a man in his twenties.
“She got married to a man name Charles Baylor, and he was the world’s first swimmer! After he died, she wrote a novel about love and intrigue in the palace of Versaille that only horses could read called Night Court.”
Sources say that Bertha’s family, along with the staff at the home, are divided on whether this behaviour could be accounted for by boredom, some currently undiagnosed dementia, or to test to see if her grandkids are really listening. In any case, they’ve decided they’re just going to let it happen.
Just before their visit was over, little Alex pointed to a picture of a young boy, about his age and asked, “who’s this grandma?” To which Bertha replied, “that’s actually your son.”
At press time, Bertha had just returned the photo album to her friend Mabel’s room.
