Were at the station, you have half an hour to book a business-class taxi for me and the children! declared the relative with the kind of confidence usually reserved for spoilt duchesses.
Are you my sister or just some nosy neighbour passing by? Arent you embarrassed, carrying on like this in front of the children? Is it really so terribly hard for you to buy your darling nieces new clothes? Why do I even have to ask? You ought to offer! And support me! You know you never did have kids, and, lets be honest, are unlikely to! Whereas Im a single mum! Angela hurled her words at her sister Susan the way youd lob darts at a board, aiming to hit every sore spot and pierce her boundaries beyond repair.
Susan had never been top of the family pops. Her mother had her out of wedlock, and once shed married at last, her stepfather found Susans very presence relentlessly annoying. She got the blame, the silent treatment, and had her mothers resentments heaped on her because the woman had married the first man to come along just to avoid single parenthood. The arrival of her little sister Angela only gave the family a new purpose: Susan was now promoted from excess baggage to full-time nanny.
Her own childhood consisted largely of feeding and entertaining Angela, keeping her occupied and clean, regardless of her own homework, friends or interests. Failing to have Angela dressed or fed on time meant Susan would forfeit any chance to go out with mates or make an appearance at a class birthday party. Unsurprisingly, as she grew, Angela copied the family script: her older sister was little more than a domestic help.
At eighteen, after finishing school, Susan decided her life needed a total overhaul. She picked the furthest university she could think of up north packed her bags and left, vowing never to look back. For the next ten years, she took a passing interest in her familys affairs usually via a rare phone call, only ever to beg for money that never reappeared.
Visiting wasnt high on her list, but Susan did hear through the grapevine that Angela managed teen motherhood at seventeen, rushed into marriage at eighteen, and promptly had twins to ensure her husband didnt escape for National Service. Miraculously, he scarpered anyway, demanding a divorce and a return ticket to freedom.
Susans phone began to ring far more frequently. Unlike Angela, Susan had not spent ten years manufacturing children. Shed earned a degree, secured a job at a firm clever enough to notice her skills, and, after some years of saving and a steadily increasing (if unspectacular) salary, put down a deposit on a tiny but perfectly-formed studio flat. Not bad for a girl who grew up feeling like a family liability.
Having registered that their unloved daughter wasnt economically destitute, Susans parents began their weekly phone-based guilt onslaught, often citing Angelas offspring as deserving charitable cases.
Sue, Mollys jackets torn. Send £50, and make it snappy, shes got nothing to wear for nursery in the morning!
Sue, the twins need birthday presents tenner each at least. Angelas found the perfect ones, so cough up £100.
Sue! Angelas lost her job again. Some people just dont get that being a mum is a full-time occupation! Right, from now on youre paying for the twins nursery and Mollys prep classes!
Every request had the tone of a royal command, with no query as to Susans finances or ability to meet the amount. As for Susans own circumstances? Her mother treated them as a mere footnote Susan lived comfortably, didnt she, what more could she want? No one at home was proud of Susans successes; they just decided she could have worked harder, achieved more, and given her all to helping out the family.
Try as she might, Susan could never seem to empty her own head of the guilt poured in since she could walk. Refusing her mother was physically impossible. Shed sigh, check her current bank balance, and wonder which luxury like food or heating to cut back on that month.
If Susans romantic life had been a little less dramatic than her sisters, it was nevertheless eventful. Not long after starting her first job, she met a colleague, things turned serious, and they ended up engaged. But of course, disaster struck: Susan found out she couldnt have children. Her husband-to-be decided this was a fatal flaw and promptly left. Susan bore this sadness alone, mentioning it to her mother only years later. From that day, her childlessness was dragged into every conversation with family.
Our Susans a dead end, arent you, love? Well, never mind, at least Angelas given us some grandchildren… her mother would say. For a short while they left Susan alone, but one day Angela decided it was time to show her big sister what sibling support really meant. On one of Susans rare, precious days off, her phone rang at an unspeakably early hour.
Sue, where on earth are you? Am I supposed to haul my three kids on the bus? Book us a cab. And it had better be a decent one! I wont have the little ones sick in some stinking, battered estate car. Dont skimp!
Hello to you too. Where exactly are you, and why should I be ordering you a taxi? Susan blinked.
Didnt Mum tell you? Ive decided to move in with you. Nothing left for me in this dump. Ill live with you now. Im at the station, youve got half an hour to sort a cab for me and the kids. Angela hung up, leaving Susan slack-jawed. Apparently, moving halfway across England hadnt been far enough to escape her demanding sibling.
That evening, Angela was already handing out instructions.
Find me a job at your office tomorrow. Something cushy, obviously, with a decent salary nothing too stressful, mind! Plenty of young lads in the team, and make sure they let me dash off for the kids at the drop of a hat! And for the twins, buy a bunk bed we cant all squash onto your sofa! Ill sleep in your bed with the boys for now, you and Molly can have the sofa. Oh, and the kids need new winter things nothing cheap, thanks, Ive got standards. I wont be shamed in the playground as a single mum with baggage!
Susan sat listening, wondering yet again why she hadnt already chucked her freeloading sister out the window. Why had she let things get this far? Why hadnt she set some boundaries? At last, an unfamiliar surge of anger, resentment and resolve came over her. She sprang to her feet and silenced her sister.
You can stay tonight. First thing tomorrow, Im taking you all back to the station and youre going back to Mum and Dad. I am not your cash machine, and Im done sending you money for your kids. You had them, you raise them! Ive paid off every debt to this family and then some. If youre not gone by morning, Ill call the police and wont care there are kids here theyre your responsibility! And by the way, all of you can sleep on the sofa. Im not playing musical beds tonight I sleep in comfort!
Susan delivered her verdict so assertively that Angela couldnt find a single comeback. She huffed and sulked all evening, called their mother to complain, but Susan ignored her. The next morning Susan didnt even give her a lift she bundled her and her brood out the front door, handed over a bit of cash for a taxi and train fare, and closed the door with a finality rarely seen outside EastEnders.
That’s it. Forget where I live. This is my life, and its not about you Susan said as she shut the door. She had a good long cry into her pillow, thinking things over, but in the end she knew shed done the right thing. In some families, if you dont put your foot down, theyll walk all over you.
Freed from years of unwanted obligations, Susan finally breathed easy. She started seeing a lovely man, and two years later they married. Together, they adopted two children and, at last, began to live happily ever after.
