Sarah stood by the open fridge, rubbing her temples. Her husband had eaten everything again. She couldnt comprehend where all the food kept disappearing. It was barely cooked before it was gone.
Any talk with her husband ended in a blazing row. She was frustrated that he was lounging at home, claiming he was looking for a job for the second month running. She worked long hours, but her pay was swallowed up by groceries that seemed to vanish overnight. Sarah had grown used to nibbling old bread and sipping weak, watery coffee. After work, she had no energy for cooking, and her husband apparently assumed she would come home already fed.
Tomorrow, Im off to Mums. We need to help Adam out, her husband shouted from the living room.
Sarah could hardly care less she felt unwell. That morning she woke up with a temperature, so she decided to stay home, took some medicine, and crawled back into bed.
Sounds from the kitchen woke her: pots clattering, someone banging casserole lids, fridge door opening and closing again and again. Whoever it was even started humming a tune. Sarah, still feeling rotten, dragged herself into the kitchen. She found her husbands sister there, a woman Sarah barely spoke to.
His sister thought her brother was responsible for supporting not just his own household, but hers as well. Their family budget always took a hit whenever her husband helped out his sister. Now, his sister riffled through their cupboards, filling plastic containers.
Oh, hello! Sarah said.
“Why arent you at work?” her sister-in-law stammered, visibly startled.
“Im ill. Tell me, does my husband know youre here?”
He gave me the keys himself.
So its not my husband with the bottomless stomach its you with the greedy fingers.
Hes my brother. I have every right to get food to feed my boys.
He doesnt work, doesnt buy anything, and now Im feeding two families without knowing it. Im not happy about that.
Well, you think I can manage all alone? Am I to apologise for a pack of sausages?
Give me the keys or Ill call the police. Dont forget your brother has nothing to do with this flat.
Youd get the police involved over cheap sausages? Dear me! Take your precious keys, you miser! Ill tell him what sort of wife hes got.
Nothing will come of it hell find someone new soon enough.
Sarah wept shed been made a fool this whole time. No one would believe her sister-in-law was robbing their fridge, leaving little but stale bread. What hurt most was knowing her husband was in on it, blaming his hearty appetite for what his sister was taking.
She wasnt even surprised anymore like mother, like children. His relations thought it perfectly fine to help themselves to anything in the house whenever they fancied. For a long time, Sarah agonised over what to do finally, she called her husband and told him she wanted a divorce.
Let me come home and talk, dont just shut me out, he pleaded.
Ive nothing more to say its all perfectly clear to me.
People like that never change. What a waste of her youth, she thought bitterly. Right then, her husband became a stranger to her, and she wished shed brought an end to all this much sooner.
