My sister-in-law was celebrating her thirtieth birthday. To say that she and I didn’t get along is almost nothing to say. We could not stand each other, and suddenly, in a cafe where they celebrated the anniversary, my husband and I were welcomed as the dearest guests. I glanced at my husband, and I got the impression that he was not telling me something.
They followed the protocol – we were given a bouquet, an envelope, my sister-in-law even kind of embraced me, saying thank you, and her relatives were whispering and strange odd bits of phrase were heard in my ears:
– Wow, such a gift!
– Well done, Alex, what a brother!
– Even the envelope is not jammed!
Well, and the like. I could not understand why they were so happy about the bouquet and the rather modest sum in the envelope, not even printed yet.
Certainty came when the mother of the birthday girl took the floor:
– Daughter, we all congratulate you and wish you all the best, and are very glad that you finally have a roof over your head, where you will build your comfortable nest!
I listened somnambulistically, not understanding what roof, what this passage is about, and suddenly the continuation:
– You have a wonderful brother who brought his wife into our family. They’re giving you an apartment!
The foot of my wine glass almost broke as I dropped it on the table in surprise and looked into my husband’s fleeing eyes in surprise. We live in an apartment with a mortgage, and we’re renting another one that I got from my grandmother before we were married, to make ends meet on our loans.
The toastmaster wouldn’t let up:
– You, my daughter, probably choose a new apartment?
Oh, my gosh, they’re still choosing which apartment to take away from us!
– Yes, I want a new one, they’re the same size, and the old one’s been renovated, and it’s just as good! Can you move in next week? We’ll help, won’t we?
The relatives of the property owner (so they thought) amicably clapped, and approvingly murmured:
– Absolutely!
Seeing that the husband, as they say, neither mooing nor mooing, I got up and asked:
– Honey, and who decided that we give you an apartment?
– I see who – Alex!
– Is it okay that Alex doesn’t have his own apartment, and the one we live in is mortgaged?
– Well, pay for a couple of years, already a little bit left (sounded amount).
This was beyond me. I turned to my husband:
– Are you seriously going to give our apartment to my sister, and move into grandmother’s, in a fire, because a relative “caught fire”?
My mother-in-law intervened:
– It’s her anniversary, after all, and you’re insulting my girl! The man decided, that’s the way it’s going to be!
The “man” sat there not knowing what to say. I had to help him make a choice:
– Beloved, either you now announce to everyone that you made a bad joke about the gift, or you can give the part of the house that you have left after the divorce. Considering there are three of us living there, you won’t get much square footage.
After that, I saw the sister-in-law I was always used to seeing. At the table jumped up, not a woman in the prime of life, but some kind of fury:
– Let her roll out of our family, you look what a proprietress, all under her own!
I left her rebuke without attention, and once again turned to her husband:
– Alex, your word, decide, finally!
My husband looked helplessly at my mother, my sister, and shrank under their menacing glances… We parted. In order to solve the issue of the apartment, I borrowed money from my friend and paid my ex-husband the court-ordered portion of the apartment. The judge rightly decided that the mother and her son should become owners of the apartment and set the minimum amount of compensation for Alexey.
Such an unexpected sequel to my sister-in-law’s anniversary party.
