It so happened that both my husband and I were at home during lockdown. Wed run out of money. We needed to do something quickly; payday was still a week away, and we had very little left to spend.
Naturally, we tried not to worry too much, since we still had a bit of food left in the fridge. Wed manage somehow (though I say that with a bit of humour, looking back).
Thats when we remembered one of our debtors. The amount hed borrowed from us wasnt huge, but it would certainly come in handy right now.
As I was making a cup of tea, my husband had already found his number and rang him up. When he finally answered, my husband started off in a firm tone, insisting we needed the money back straight away. A minute later, though, I noticed his voice suddenly soften, with apologies and words of sympathy tumbling out.
He hung up and told me what had happened. It turned out our debtor had just lost his mother. Being decent people, we both agreed wed wait a little longer for repayment.
A few weeks passed, and my husband and I decided to cook a proper meal, so we set out to the greengrocers nearby to buy some fresh vegetables. We got what we needed, and as we were about to leave, to our astonishment, we ran into the supposedly deceased mother of our debtoralive and well. I must have pulled quite a face.
Id never seen my husband so angry. We hurried back to the car and drove straight to the house of our grieving acquaintance. Not only was he in a dreadful state from drinking, but he flat out refused to return the money.
My husband was just about to lose his temper entirely when, suddenly, the man admitted it. He said hed lied, because it was the only thing he could think of at the time. He disappeared into his room and came back with our money. We never saw him again after that.
So really, how can one keep faith in people after something like this? But in the end, I realised that while trust can be fragile, its also necessary for us to hold onto a bit of hope. Every disappointment teaches us to be more careful, but we shouldnt let one liar sour us against everyone. In life, sometimes the greatest lesson is learning who is truly worthy of your trust.
