“Don’t you want to help your sister? She’s struggling after the divorce,” their mother scolded.
Two sisters sat at a round table in their mother’s house, listening to her complaints.
“Your Steve is a real spoiled brat!” exclaimed Margaret Thomas without holding back. “He works shifts and still brings home peanuts!”
“Mum, isn’t sixty thousand enough for you?” the younger daughter, Elizabeth, asked angrily.
“I don’t care. The main thing is that he should be able to support you,” their mother huffed.
“He does support me,” replied Elizabeth with a frown.
“I don’t see it. You borrowed five thousand from me just yesterday,” Margaret reminded. “If he can’t feed you, get a divorce! Find someone who can! Besides, just looking at him, you can tell he’s got a few screws loose.”
“Mum, I think that’s too much,” Carol, who had been quiet the whole time, decided to stand up for her sister.
“Am I not speaking the truth? He’s plain, ginger-haired, and even speaks with a lisp,” Margaret said with a grin, rolling her eyes. “You deserve better, Liz. It’s not too late, you should divorce him,” she added, looking at her youngest daughter.
“Mum, Steve has golden hands. And you know, appearances aren’t everything,” Carol said, seeing how their mother pressured her sister. “If you’re judging by material things, he has a flat, a car, and he loves Liz, you can tell right away.”
Margaret pressed her lips and gave her eldest daughter a disdainful look, thinking she was interfering where she wasn’t wanted.
“And you’re living alone, and you’re thirty, so spare us your advice,” she dismissed Carol. “By forty, you’ll be desperate to grab anyone…”
Elizabeth sat silently, watching her mother and sister with an indifferent expression, glancing from one to the other.
“You sing his praises… a one-bedroom flat in a rundown building, a domestic car; there’s nothing to boast about,” Margaret said haughtily.
“Liz, what do you think?” Carol asked her quiet sister. “Do you have an opinion?”
“I don’t know. Maybe Mum’s right about some things,” Elizabeth mumbled, having initially defended her husband but now bending under her mother’s influence. “He said I should look for a job the other day…”
“See! It’s come to that. I shudder to think what’s next!” Margaret aligned her hands on her stomach.
“And why shouldn’t Liz work? Few can afford such a luxury as not having a job. I’m surprised Steve didn’t push her to get a job earlier,” Carol added.
“I can’t understand why you’re defending him so fiercely. Got your eye on him?” Margaret peered at her daughter.
“Because I’m afraid your pressure will ruin my sister’s life,” Carol explained calmly.
“That’s not your concern,” Margaret snapped at her eldest. “Liz deserves more. If Steve loved her, he’d make sure she knew no sorrow. Even if Steve had looks, he has no money either…”
Elizabeth sat with her mouth open, absorbing her mother’s every word.
Margaret’s preaching began to take effect. Soon after, Elizabeth started making demands of Steve.
“Do you think you earn enough?” she asked her husband.
“It’s fine, why?” he replied indifferently.
“I don’t think so,” Elizabeth shook her head. “You should find another job.”
“Another? I’m content as it is,” said Steve, slightly nervous but still indifferent.
“Well, I’m not!” Elizabeth declared stubbornly. “The flat is tiny, the car’s domestic… there’s nothing to brag about, even to neighbors.”
“It’s strange, you were fine with everything before,” Steve commented thoughtfully. “What changed?”
“Nothing’s changed, I just see you differently now. My emotions used to cloud my view, but now I see things as they are,” Elizabeth justified.
“Wonderful,” Steve responded flatly, assuming she’d drop the issue.
But Elizabeth, spurred by Margaret, continued her complaints.
“Listen, your dissatisfaction is starting to annoy me,” Steve ground out through clenched teeth. “I’ve heard you, but I can’t help you.”
“I need a husband who’s progressive, not stuck at the same level,” Elizabeth stated sternly.
“Sorry I’m not that!” Steve responded coldly and walked into the bedroom, opening the wardrobe containing her clothes. “Pack your things!”
“Where am I supposed to go?” Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, surprised.
“Where there’s a flat in a new building and a foreign car,” Steve said dryly. “I’ll never forgive myself if you spend your life with a loser like me. I’m sure one day you’ll find someone who can shower you with gold and diamonds. But it won’t be me…”
Margaret was the first to learn that Steve had kicked Elizabeth out.
“The audacity! Who’d have thought he could do something like this?! Shouldn’t have married him at all,” her mother exclaimed, showering Steve with curses and threats for his wicked deed.
“I just asked him to improve and make more money,” Elizabeth said, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“No one’s here to talk about him! He’s a lout. Don’t worry, you’ll find better, and Steve will be kicking himself and crawling back,” Margaret consoled her daughter.
Left without a flat or a husband, Elizabeth moved back into her childhood room at her mother’s house.
“What will you do now?” Carol asked her sister, having come at their mother’s call.
“Nothing,” Elizabeth replied indifferently, burying herself in her phone.
“Haven’t thought about a job?” Carol hinted directly to her younger sister.
“Nope. Why would I? I’ll just find a guy richer than Steve,” Elizabeth replied matter-of-factly.
“Why are you picking on your sister? She’s been through so much. Let her relax,” Margaret defended her youngest daughter.
For about two months, Margaret carried the burden for her daughter who lounged on the sofa.
But soon she realized she couldn’t handle it alone and called Carol, demanding she visit.
After work, Carol went to her mother, thinking it was urgent.
“Don’t you want to help your sister?” Margaret asked judgmentally.
“How?”
“Not how, but in what,” Margaret corrected her daughter. “Financially. It’s tough for us both.”
“Who forced you to egg her on about getting a divorce?” Carol stunned her mother with her statement. “Butt out, and everything would’ve been fine.”
“Oh really?!” Margaret clutched her chest. “How dare you? Steve’s a fool, a coward! Couldn’t handle someone like Liz, and gave up. You know what? Get out! I can’t stand the sight of you! Instead of helping, you’re judging us!”
Hearing the commotion, Elizabeth leisurely walked out of her room. Seeing her sister, she poised herself.
“Standing up for the man who dumped me onto the street?”
“It’s your own fault! Stop listening to Mum so much…”
“You’re trying to teach me? Think you’re so smart? Why are you single then?” Elizabeth shouted.
Carol shook her head, listening to her sister’s and mother’s outbursts, heading to the door.
She didn’t feel any desire to stay in touch with her relatives. Nor did Elizabeth and Margaret with her.
