The Ungrateful Daughter-in-law
“Here we go again, with that sour face!” Rose exclaimed with displeasure. “A little gratitude wouldn’t hurt. All you do is pull faces!”
Emma looked at her mother-in-law, doing her best to keep her cool. She was fed up with Jack’s mom always meddling with her “good deeds” in their life.
Today, she had brought home a cat without anyone asking for it. Cockroaches had appeared a few days ago, courtesy of their new neighbors who had just moved in. They were tidying up their apartment, which had been empty for a long time, and inadvertently drove the pests over to Emma and Jack’s. Jack had mentioned this to his mom in passing. But how was a cat supposed to help with that?
“But cockroaches aren’t mice, why do we need a cat?”
“Why? Everyone knows cats eat cockroaches!” Rose asserted confidently.
“I’ve lived with cats all my life and have never seen one eat a cockroach!” Emma shook her head. “Besides, Jack is allergic to fur!”
“He can endure it for a while for a good cause!”
“No, Rose. You’re taking the cat back where you got it. If we wanted a pet, we would have gotten one!” Emma insisted.
“That’s not for you to decide! Jack will be home soon and he will settle this.”
About half an hour later, Jack returned from work. During that time, Rose had been chasing the cat around, searching for phantom cockroaches, even though Emma had already dealt with them and set traps just in case.
Rose hadn’t found a single cockroach but insisted they were just hiding and would come out at night. She had even named the cat Jasper.
Jack didn’t notice the new addition right away. He hung up his coat and went to the bathroom to wash his hands, only to step into something wet.
“Emma, did you spill something in the bathroom?” he called, turning on the water.
His wife joined him and knew immediately who was responsible.
“No, your mom brought home a surprise!”
“What?” he laughed. “The bathroom is right there!”
“Oh, she has a new plan to disrupt our lives!” complained Emma.
“What happened now?”
“She’ll tell you herself, be patient. In the meantime, burn your socks!”
“Burn them?”
Jack looked puzzled. After washing his hands, he removed one sock and sniffed it. The smell was familiar, but—ugh!
He tossed a cloth over the puddle, washed his hands again, and headed to the kitchen. His mother was there, petting a grumpy grey cat.
“Mom?”
“Son, let me explain! Remember those cockroaches? Jasper here will catch them all, I guarantee!”
Jack listened, bewildered, then sneezed loudly, followed by another and another.
“Yeah, while Jasper’s catching cockroaches, you’ll have an allergic reaction!” Emma quipped. “There’s a reason we don’t have pets!”
“He’ll manage,” Rose protested once more.
Jack sneezed repeatedly, then reached his limit.
“Mom, the cat has to go! Now!”
“And what about the cockroaches?”
“Just take it away! Quickly!”
Rose clicked her tongue and headed for the front door. She tossed the cat out into the hallway and returned to the kitchen.
“Well, don’t complain later when there are more cockroaches than dust!”
“We don’t have dust!” Emma pointed out.
“Just keep quiet! You don’t appreciate my help at all!” Rose said, offended.
“Where did you find that cat? It might get lost! It looks like someone’s pet!”
“Oh, it was just sitting outside!” Rose replied dismissively. “I just borrowed it…”
Emma didn’t respond, though she was seething inside. This was typical of her mother-in-law—taking someone else’s cat and bringing it into their home. An eccentric woman, to say the least.
“Maybe you should stop helping us?” Jack suggested.
Emma had often complained about his mother, who had a knack for getting under people’s skin. Recently, when they went away for the weekend, Rose had dropped by unannounced and decided to defrost and clean their fridge, believing Emma never did it. But she forgot it was a no-frost model; she unplugged it and went off to watch TV.
She fell asleep and woke up to a call from her husband, requesting a pie for dinner. She assumed the fridge could wait and left home, intending to return the next day.
Jack and Emma came back earlier than planned, to a foul odor in their home. Their groceries had spoiled overnight.
The real blow was when Emma’s mother had sent a gift from the South—two pounds of expensive red caviar. Unable to eat it all at once, they had frozen it for safekeeping. But now, thanks to Rose’s meddling, they lost two pounds of caviar, along with several other delicacies.
Emma was close to tears, realizing her mother-in-law only brought trouble. Her mom had gone through so much effort, only for Rose to ruin it all.
Naturally, Rose found countless excuses. She never apologized. After that incident, Jack took their keys back without asking, but it didn’t stop Rose from doing her “good deeds.”
Now, she was open about it. Once, she bought herring on clearance. Jack loved it and ate almost the whole jar before Emma checked the expiration date. It was past due. Fortunately, Jack didn’t fall ill, but it could have been bad.
A few weeks ago, Rose asked to shower at their place since her building had no hot water. Jack had recently installed a water heater. Of course, they let her. But the finicky woman brought her own abrasive bathtub cleaner.
She locked herself in the bathroom and started scrubbing before bathing. Realizing something was wrong, she decided not to confess. Emma figured out immediately who had damaged their acrylic tub.
“Why did you touch it?” Emma asked, upset. “I cleaned it before you came!”
“Oh, I know how you clean—just spreading the dirt around!”
Jack was upset too, but they couldn’t force his mom to buy a new tub. So they had to save for a replacement.
Now, it was the cockroach problem and the cat. Emma had had enough.
“Rose, maybe it’s best if you stop helping us?” Emma asked earnestly. “Jack and I are adults. We know what we’re doing!”
“There you go again! Ungrateful daughter-in-law!” Rose said with a huff. “You should be grateful to me! Instead, you just complain!”
“Grateful for what? The caviar we had to throw out? The tub you destroyed? The herring that made Jack sick? That’s far from all of your blunders! Isn’t it enough?”
“Should I stop visiting altogether then?” Rose asked, pretending to be deeply hurt.
“You know, that’s an idea. Maybe we should visit you instead?”
“Yes, Mom, it sounds good to me!”
“You’re ganging up on me now?” Rose stared at her son. “I didn’t expect this from you! Fine, I won’t set foot in this house again!”
She got up and headed for the entryway, hoping they would stop her or apologize. But neither of them followed her out.
With her gone, the couple breathed a sigh of relief. Jack continued sneezing, they found another puddle under their bed, and Emma had to clean thoroughly to get rid of all the fur. But really, having Rose upset was a small price to pay, so long as she was upset at her own place.
