“You’re Not a Wife, You’re a Servant – and You Don’t Even Have Children! Helena’s Struggle Living Under One Roof with Her Mother-in-Law During Their Flat Renovation”

Author Wanda MirandaReading 3 minViews 2

Youre not a wifeyoure just a servant. You dont even have children!

Mum, Helens going to stay here for a bit. Were having the flat done up, its a building site and impossible to live in. Theres a spare roomwhy should she have to sit in all that dust? said Edward, Helens husband.

He clearly didnt feel awkward about the idea, which couldnt be said for his wife or his mum. His mother never liked her daughter-in-law.

I have to work, I really cant be here much, Helen whispered.

Helen worked from home and needed peace and quiet. Edward was out all day in the office, so being under the same roof as her mother-in-law wasnt easy. Helen had grown used to having the house to herselfnobody bothered her, and she enjoyed her solitude.

Helen watched her mother-in-law, lost for words. Her mother-in-law didnt want her there, but she didnt really have a choice. They sat at the table and started on dinner.

Helen, would you bring out your famous salad, please? Edward asked.

Edward, dont eat that rubbish. Ive made something better for you, its much healthier, his mum fussed.

Helens expression changed instantly. Edward was allergic to tomatoeshow could his mother forget that? When Edward was a boy, she never cared about such things. She always said there was no need to see the doctora tablet would sort him out.

Hes allergic. Why did you put tomatoes in the salad? Helen said.

Oh, dont be ridiculous. Its only one tomato, nothing to worry about, his mother replied.

Hell get ill.

Helen, do calm down. Hes not allergic. His own mother knows him better than you.

Im his wife. I look after my husband.

Youre not a wife, just a servant. You dont have children! When you do, well talk.

Helen pushed her chair back and hurried off to the bedroom. Her mother-in-law always knew how to hit a nerve. Edward rushed after her to try and comfort her.

Edward, Im sorry. Id better stay at my parents houseor work from the office. I wont live here with your mother.

Let me speak to her. Shell knock it off!

No, weve been over this a thousand times. Well never get on while living under the same roof.

In the end, they had to rent a flat for a while, just to avoid another family argument. Of course, his mum grumbled, but she didnt have a choice. Helen, on the other hand, was just relieved she had such a supportive and understanding husband.

The Key in My Hand Rain drummed against the window of the small London flat, as steady as the ticking of a metronome counting down the hours. Michael perched on the edge of his sagging bed, hunched as if trying to make himself smaller—less visible to the fate that shadowed his days. Once-strong hands, forged by years at the machine shop, now rested uselessly in his lap. From time to time, his fingers clenched, as if reaching for something lost, something he couldn’t quite name. He stared not just at the peeling wallpaper, but read it as a map of hopeless journeys: from NHS surgery to private diagnostic clinic, each route more futile than the last. His gaze had faded somehow, like a still from an old black-and-white film stuck forever on the same frame. Yet another doctor, yet another patient smile. “Well, you have to understand, sir—these things come with age.” There was no anger left in him. Anger needed strength, and that was one resource he no longer had. Only fatigue remained. The ache in his back was not just a symptom—it had become his personal landscape, the backdrop to every sluggish movement and tired thought, a white noise of helplessness drowning out all hope. He followed every prescription: swallowed the pills, rubbed in pungent ointments, lay on the cold table in the physio suite, feeling like a broken appliance discarded in a skip. And all this time—he waited. Passive, almost devout in his hope, for the life raft that one day someone—be it the government, a miracle-working doctor, or some wise professor—would toss his way before he was pulled under for good. He scanned the horizon of his life and saw only the grey curtain of rain outside the window. The will that had once tackled any problem at the factory or weathered any plumbing emergency at home, was now shrunk down to a single function: endure, and hope for a miracle from elsewhere. Family. Once, it had been there. It had slipped away, quickly and undeniably. Time passed. His daughter, clever Katie, left first—off to London in pursuit of a better life. He’d never begrudged her her dreams; you want everything for your only child. “Dad, I’ll send money as soon as I find my feet,” she’d said over the phone. It didn’t matter; he would never have asked. Then his wife was gone too. Not just out to the shops—gone. Rachel was overtaken swiftly—ruthless cancer found too late. Michael was left with a crippled back and the silent accusation that he, half-mobile and half-alive, had survived. She, his anchor, his spark, his Rachel, faded in just three months. He nursed her as best as he could, until the coughing grew rough and the sparkle in her eyes slid away. The last thing she said, in a hospital bed, her hand in his, was, “Hang in there, Mike…” He didn’t. He broke completely. Katie called, begged him to move in with her in her rented flat—but what use was he there, a stranger in a strange home? He refused to be a burden. And she, predictably, wasn’t coming back. Now, only Rachel’s younger sister, Val, visited. Once a week, like clockwork, she’d bring homemade soup in Tupperware, a bag of painkillers, sometimes some pasta or a ready meal. “How are you, Mike?” she’d ask, easing off her coat. He’d nod: “All right.” They sat in silence as she tidied his poky little place, as if scrubbing the flat could somehow scrub his life clean too. Then she’d leave, leaving behind a scent not quite his, and the almost physical presence of a debt owed out of duty. He was grateful—and endlessly lonely. His solitude was not just physical—it was a prison built from his own helplessness, pain, and a low-burning resentment at the unfairness of it all. One especially grey evening, his eyes drifted over the battered carpet and caught on a key fallen near the door. He must have dropped it on his last, laboured return from the surgery. Just a key. Nothing special—a bit of metal. He stared at it, as if for the first time, at something rare and strange. He remembered his granddad, clear as a light switched on in a dark room. Old Peter, one sleeve tucked into his waistband, would perch on a stool and tie his shoes one-handed, using a broken fork. Patient, focused, huffing with pride when he managed. “See, Mikey,” he’d say, eyes twinkling—victory through ingenuity. “The right tool’s always nearby—even if it looks like rubbish. You just need to see an ally in the junk.” Michael, back then, thought it was just old man’s bluster—a bedtime story for comfort. Granddad was a hero; heroes can do anything. But Michael wasn’t a hero, and his war with pain left no room for such tricks. Now, eying the key, that memory came to him, not as comfort, but as a reproach. Granddad hadn’t waited for help; he took what he had, and beat back helplessness—not just pain or loss. And Michael? All he’d taken up was waiting, bitter and passive, hunting charity like a beggar at a neighbour’s doorstep. The thought lit a spark. This key—this scrap of metal, echoing his granddad’s words—turned into a silent command. He stood—slowly, groaning, ashamed even before an empty room. Shuffled over, picked up the key. Tried, with difficulty, to stand upright—a streak of ice-hot pain stabbing his back. He froze, teeth clenched, waiting for the spasm to pass. But instead of collapsing, he turned toward the wall. He pressed the blunt end of the key against the faded wallpaper, right at the source of the pain. Then, gingerly, pressed his back into it with what little strength he had. He had no goal to “massage” or “treat.” This wasn’t medicine—it was pressure. Steady, focused, pain against pain—reality against reality. He found, to his shock, a spot where the struggle let up—a muted relief, like a knot inside him loosened for a moment. He shifted the key up, then down. Repeated. Not fast—listening, testing, finding a groove. It wasn’t therapy—it was negotiation. And the key, not a fancy physio gadget, was his tool. It was stupid, he thought. A key isn’t magic. The next night, as pain surged again, he tried once more. And the next, and the next. He started to use the doorframe to gently stretch. He remembered, seeing the water glass by his bed, to drink—just water, nothing fancy. Michael stopped waiting, hands folded. He used what he had: the key, a sturdy frame, the floor for tiny stretches, his own stubbornness. He started a notebook—not complaints, but “key victories”: “Today, stood at the hob for five minutes longer.” He lined up three empty baked bean tins on his sill, filled them with earth from the communal garden, and pressed in a few little onion bulbs. Not a garden—just a few green shoots he was now responsible for. A month later, at his GP appointment, the doctor looked at the new scans with surprise. “There’s improvement. Have you been doing your exercises?” “Yes,” Michael replied simply. “Made do with what was at hand.” He didn’t mention the key—the doctor wouldn’t have understood. But Michael knew. No rescue ship had swept in. Salvation was just a key on the floor, unseen while he stared at the wall, waiting for someone else to flip the switch. One Wednesday, when Val came by, she froze at the door. Fresh green onion shoots grew in the tins. The room now smelled—not of pills and defeat—but of something hopeful. “You… what’s this?” she gaped, seeing him stand confidently by the window. “Bit of a garden,” he answered. After a pause: “Want some for your soup? Homegrown, fresh.” She stayed longer that night. They sipped tea, and—without mentioning aches or test results—he told her how each day he climbed one more flight of stairs in the block. Salvation hadn’t come as some Doctor Dolittle with a miracle pill. It had crept in as a key, a doorframe, an empty tin, an ordinary set of stairs. It hadn’t cured the pain or dismissed the loss or rewound his years. It just put tools in his hands—not to win the war, but for the daily battles only he could fight. Turns out, the moment you stop searching for a golden staircase from the sky and see the solid concrete one right under your feet, you can begin to climb after all. Slowly, steadily, sometimes halting—but always, step by step, upwards. And on the windowsill, in three humble cans, spring onions grew—the finest little garden there ever was.