I was sitting in the shopping mall, drinking coffee and taking a break. I don't like going to the mall, but sometimes I have to go and pick up something for The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. Sometimes, I think she does it on purpose, knowing how much I dislike it. I try to make the most of it.
While drinking coffee, I watched people pass by. I can't understand why so many people like coming to the mall.
Suddenly, I saw someone I recognized—or at least, I thought I recognized. It was my great-aunt. That would be my grandmother's sister, who passed away about 25 years ago. How could she be in the mall here today? Or, is it her ghost?
Staring at her as she walked by, I couldn't help but believe she was either my great-aunt or an identical substitute. Everything about her reminded me of my great-aunt.
I haven't thought about my great-aunt for many years. She's been deceased now for 25 years. Sitting there thinking about her, many things came to mind.
The first thing was that she was the biggest gossiper in the whole town. It was a small town, but she knew everything that was happening there.
Her job was delivering mail, and she would stop at my grandmother's mailbox daily. They would catch up on a lot of things. Together, they both knew everything that ever happened or would happen in that little town.
I couldn't help but chuckle as I thought of the stories associated with her. I never told her or my grandmother that I referred to her as Ms. Gossips-A-Lot. I'm unsure where the name came from; I just made it up. But if anybody knew how to gossip, it was her.
It was always a wonderful time to sit down with my great-aunt and listen to the stories she told. I never knew if those stories were true, but she presented them to me, and at the time, I believed them to be true.
All I had to do was mention a name, and she would go on and on about that person. She knew more about that person than that person probably did. And the critical aspect is that she knew where all the dead bodies were buried, so to speak. She had dirt on just about everybody in town. She could have been a politician.
Several times she told me, "Son, the more you know about somebody the more you can control them." And believe me, she was a control freak on every level.
Everybody in town feared talking in front of her. They knew whatever they said would be conveyed to other people. They were kind to her and smiled a lot at her, but they did not like sharing any information with her.
The more I got to know my great-aunt, the more I learned how to control her. I'm not a control freak, but sometimes I like to pull pranks on people. Ms. Gossips-A-Lot was a prime subject for some of my pranks.
Sometimes, as we sat and talked, I would calmly say, "Auntie, did you hear what Mr. Smith down the road did the other night?"
That kind of question always gets her undivided attention. She is nervous that somebody will know something about someone she doesn't know. That's not the way she plays her harp.
Looking at me seriously, she would lean toward me and whisper, "No, what did Mr. Smith do the other night? I haven't heard anything."
I didn't live in the town, but about 100 miles away. There's just no way I would know anything about anybody Auntie didn't know. She couldn't take a chance that I knew something she didn't.
Sitting there, I told a story about Mr. Smith, which I had made up. The more I talked about Mr. Smith, the more Auntie's eyes widened. She had a hard time dealing with me knowing something about someone she didn't.
I would say, "Auntie, what I'm about to tell you please do not let anybody else know."
That was the clue I needed to stir her up and spread this gossip for weeks.
Looking back on some of the pranks I pulled on her, I am a little regretful. She was an easy target, and I played her more than I should have.
The problem was that nobody believed what my dear old Auntie said. The only one who really believed her was her sister, my grandmother.
After she passed away, the town gossip quieted as never before. People couldn't get the daily gossip they once did and didn't realize how much they depended upon Auntie's gossip.
Sitting in the mall thinking about Ms. Gossips-A-Lot, I was reminded of what Solomon said in Proverbs 20:19. "He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips."
I did not know my great-aunt very well. I only saw her occasionally. I did know some of the people around her, and they did not have anything too good to say about her. If my great-aunt had known what the people thought about her, she might have toned down her gossiping a little.
It is so easy to gossip. However, gossip only causes harm and is never good when considering the subject. I want to build people up, not tear them down.