Many years ago, Mother and Father purchased a small two-bedroom flat for my sister and me. They always said that, someday, we could sell it and each exchange our share for a snug one-bedroom place of our own. It was a kind of promise that, in time, each of us would have our own space.
Later on, my sister met a man and married him. She asked if I minded her and her husband moving in with me to our flat, and I agreed. At first, everything went smoothly, but things changed when my sister learned she was expecting a baby. Suddenly, she and her husband began suggestingthen outright insistingthat I should move out so their baby could have my room. They acted as if it were only natural, but I couldnt see why I should leave when, by right, half the flat belonged to me.
At the time, I was still studying at university, my only income being a small scholarship and a part-time job. My earnings could hardly stretch to cover rent anywhere else in London or even the surrounding towns. Why should I have to find a new place and pay so much in pounds sterling, when I was already living in my own home?
The hints from my sister grew less subtle by the day, with her husband joining in as well. She was already making plans about where the babys cot would go, what colour theyd paint my bedroomspeaking of these decisions as though I were merely a guest in my own home. It was as if my years spent there meant nothing at all. But I wasnt about to move out; after all, it was my flat, too.
I confided in my parents, hoping for support or some guidance. Mother laughed lightly and said this was only the sort of thing that happens to expectant mothers, and told me not to dwell on my sister’s words, that these things soon pass. But how could I ignore what was becoming daily talk of moving me out, as though I were an unwelcome tenant rather than family?
Looking back, I see how I began to feel like a stranger in my own home, with my sister so fixed in her plans and unwilling to see things my way. I often wonder what I should have done differently then.
