“Hello! I’m calling about the room!”
Standing at the door of Helen’s flat was a true “plain Jane”: dressed in worn-out jeans, a washed-out t-shirt, with well-worn sneakers on her feet and a not-so-special bag in her hands. Her light, wavy hair was tied back in a simple ponytail. No makeup adorned her face. The only striking feature of this “pale little thing” was her eyes—enormous, blue, and clear…
After taking a good look at the girl, Helen nodded: “Come in!”
“Right, my dear, no wasting electricity, don’t leave the water running, be frugal, understand?! And keep everything clean! No guests either! Got any questions?”
The girl smiled and nodded: “Yes, okay!”
“Compliant,” Helen thought, “Such a rarity these days… You can tell she’s from the countryside.”
From their ensuing conversation, it emerged that the girl’s name was Lucy and she had indeed come from a village where her family had their own farm, and she had moved here to study veterinary science.
“Got it! You’re going to treat pigs!” Helen concluded.
Lucy didn’t show an ounce of offense, just smiled: “Pigs, cows, horses, even cats and dogs—all of them! Animals get sick too.”
“Oh sure, sure! Here no one’s around to treat people, but pigs, no problem!” Helen exclaimed in genuine exasperation.
***
Overall, the lodger made a pleasant impression on Helen: modest, gentle, quiet, obedient, tidy, she’d clean the apartment, cook her meals, and even treat her landlady.
Lucy especially excelled at making pancakes: appetizing, thin as cigarette paper, bubbly, and golden. Helen’s hand would reach for the treat on its own! The pancakes were nothing short of culinary art, melting in the mouth before they even hit the stomach.
Helen and Lucy, you might say, even became friends, sometimes spending evenings over a cup of tea.
Everything probably would have gone smoothly, and Lucy would have completed her studies while living in Helen’s rental. But then, after a six-month stint up north, Helen’s son, Michael, returned. A strapping young man, even handsome (“just like his father,” his mother sighed).
Helen loved to call her beloved son “Michel” in a French way. The young man winced at this as if from a toothache, but endured it, because after all, “it’s Mum.”
She had raised him alone and, perhaps because of this, she saw him as her own possession.
So, witnessing her Michel having a cheerful chat with the lodger in the kitchen, devouring her pancakes with gusto, left Helen shocked. If only it were just the pancakes! That “rascal” was also ogling this “milkmaid” with his eyes. This revelation left Helen shaking in her boots.
“My son has no taste whatsoever!” a dreadful thought ran through the mind of the possessive mother.
***
From that moment, Helen began to resent her lodger: her cleaning, her demeanor, even the pancakes lost their taste. But most of all, Helen was disturbed by the lovestruck gaze with which her precious son viewed this “plain Jane from the barnyard”.
“He never looked at me, his mother, his only relative, like that!” she thought indignantly, stifling her sobs into her pillow at night.
“I’ve nursed a snake, a snake on my own chest!” she cried into the phone, sharing her woes with her close friend Jane, a fellow lonely older woman.
“I thought Michel wouldn’t give a glance to this plain Jane! That’s why I let her in! But she’s painted her eyes and let down her hair, and those pancakes, they’ve bewitched him!”
Jane listened, sighed sympathetically, and delivered her authoritative opinion:
“You better watch out, Helen. She might just enchant your son.” With those words, Jane fanned the flames of hatred and misunderstanding, nearly driving her friend to a heart attack.
It wasn’t that Helen believed in such things as enchantments… she called it “nonsense and barbarity”. Just the idea that another woman had captured her son’s attention was driving her insane.
For days, she pondered how to break her son’s attachment to this “milkmaid”. But she wasn’t prepared to be rude or throw the girl out. Not then, at least. After all, if she did, she might fall in her son’s eyes, and who knows, he might leave her.
“No, no! I need to be crafty, somehow make the girl look bad so the son will turn away from her.”
***
For several days, Helen pondered how to deter her son from the lodger.
Meanwhile, Lucy went about her business as if nothing was amiss, baking her pancakes, making stew, and pretending not to notice Helen’s piercing glares. Once, she even asked:
“Helen, are you not feeling well? You seem so sad and pale… and you’re not eating anything…”
“Everything’s fine!” Helen muttered under her breath and dashed into her room to continue plotting the lodger’s demise. Her mind was racing… She even had a fleeting thought of poisoning the impudent girl. But Helen crossed herself quickly: “Forgive me, Lord! What a sinful thought!”
While Helen was lost in thought, Michael returned home one day with a ring and flowers and proposed to Lucy! Helen completely lost control and, as they say, “flew off the handle”.
“He didn’t even care that his mother was there, the rascal!” she cried into her pillow all night, “He thinks nothing of me! He only loves that girl!”
Helen angrily wiped her tears and looked out the window… she turned around, and suddenly her gaze fell on the bedside table. There lay her emerald earrings. Heirloom earrings, worth a small fortune. Inherited from her mother, and from her mother before her… She remembered how Lucy always admired those earrings with such awe.
“I’ll show you!” Helen hissed, maliciously grabbing the earrings, wrapping them in a handkerchief, and shoving them into her handbag.
Honestly, she barely knew what she was doing or how she’d proceed from there.
***
Helen woke up the next morning in high spirits, determined to throw the milkmaid out for good.
She came to breakfast, smiling sweetly and spreading butter on her toast, then turned to her son: “Michael, you didn’t happen to take my emerald earrings, did you? I can’t find them anywhere…”
“Mom, why would I? Am I some beauty queen?” he replied, puzzled.
Helen then smiled smugly at Lucy: “Have you seen my earrings?”
Lucy blushed deeply; the mere thought of being accused of theft made her flustered, avert her eyes, and cry.
“I didn’t take anything!” Lucy whispered, holding back tears.
“There you have it! It was her! She pocketed my earrings and sent them to her poor relatives in the country…”
“But my relatives aren’t poor at all,” Lucy countered, “And we’ve never taken what’s not ours! Why would you say that?”
“Why did you take them? Return my earrings now and get out.”
“I don’t have anything of yours… You can even call the police!”
“What’s the point? They’re already with your kin!”
Helen completely lost all control and spiraled downwards, unable to stop the torrent of vile words directed at the girl.
“Mom, what are you saying? Lucy couldn’t have done such a thing! You probably just forgot and put them somewhere.”
All three of them thoroughly searched the apartment until Michael accidentally bumped into his mother’s bag, and the handkerchief with the earrings fell out.
Michael stood frozen, holding the discovery in his hands.
“How could you, Mom?” he could only say, looking at his mother with eyes full of disappointment.
“I simply made a mistake, son. I forgot!” Helen tried to deflect.
“Mom, I saw everything! You were dreadful! Lucy and I are leaving to find our own place,” declared Michael.
“Wait, you’ll regret it with that girl!” Helen shouted through her tears.
Michael left the room silently, took Lucy by the hand, and led her out of Helen’s home.
They rented a flat, got married, and were quite happy together. Then one day, Michael received a call from Jane.
“Michael, your mother is in the hospital! She’s had a heart attack. She’s crying, wanting to see you…”
When Lucy heard that her mother-in-law was unwell, she immediately started packing, prepared her some steamed cutlets, made chicken broth with pastries, and bought fruit on the way…
Michael didn’t visit his mother, citing work commitments.
***
When Lucy appeared at the hospital room door, Helen was in tears. She had hoped it would be her son who would come, but instead, it was the hated girl who had ruined her life and taken her most precious relationship away.
“Well, why did you fall ill, Mum? Here, eat this broth and pastries…” Lucy said. “Would you like me to feed you while it’s hot?”
“And why didn’t Michel come?” Helen asked quietly, disappointed.
“Michael is very busy at work…”
Helen nodded understandingly and cried…
“Forgive me, Lucy, I wronged you… Please come back home, I miss you both so much…”
“What are you talking about, Mum? You did nothing wrong, you just made a mistake, forgot, and got upset! Everything’s going to be alright.”
When Lucy left, the lady in the next bed remarked to Helen, “You’ve got a good daughter! Beautiful, kind, and caring!”
Helen smiled, “Yes, she is wonderful!”
When Helen recuperated, it was Michael and Lucy who came to take her home from the hospital. The three of them lived together in Helen’s apartment until Lucy finished her studies. Eventually, they all moved to Lucy’s parents on the farm. The house there was spacious with room to spare… and extra hands were always welcome.
Helen loved life on the farm so much she no longer wanted anything to do with the city. Besides, the young couple had a baby boy, little Alex, who became the apple of everyone’s eye. While Lucy’s parents ran the farm, Lucy treated the animals, and Michael managed the farm store, Helen devoted all her attention to little Alex.
She often said now, “God truly sent me a wonderful lodger!”
Funny how life turns out!”
