— Katerina, why are you taking so long to answer the phone?» — the mother-in-law, Olga Vitalievna, shouted disapprovingly.
Of course, Katya took a while to answer the call. That’s because she had barely managed to locate her cellphone. In this chaos, nothing could be found. Boxes and bundles were everywhere—they had just moved into a new house from their two-room apartment, in which they had lived for fifteen years since the wedding day. And now nothing could be found.
«Girls, where’s my phone? Has anyone seen it?» she asked her daughters, Liza and Anya, after hearing the ringing from somewhere.
«No, Mom. We haven’t seen it. Look for it where it’s ringing!»
Finally, she found the lost phone and was able to answer. And immediately she heard her mother-in-law’s dissatisfied voice.
«How long am I going to be living in the country house?» Olga Vitalievna bellowed in her resonant voice. «It’s autumn outside, and it’s cold in the little house. I can’t properly wash or rest. All night long, instead of sleeping, I tremble like an aspen leaf. And I eat only raw vegetables and dry bread. There’s no gas in the cylinder, and there’s no one to bring me a new one. The season is over, and no one wants to go here anymore.»
«Wait, Olga Vitalievna!» Katya interrupted. «What happened? Why are you still living in the country house? What’s stopping you from returning home? I understand you’ve gathered all your harvest. So why do you need to live there? Maybe you need some help?»
«That’s none of your business — why! It happened. Circumstances have turned out this way for me. And I no longer intend to live here. I’m not at an age to be trembling in the cold at a country house!»
«I don’t understand anything,» Katya said, surprised, looking at her husband who had come over.
«Who is it?» he asked.
«Olga Vitalievna. Vityusha, maybe you can talk to her yourself? I just don’t understand what she wants from us,» Katya said, handing the cellphone to her husband. «Meanwhile, I’ll start unpacking my things gradually. There’s a week’s work here.»
Victor took the phone from his wife and prepared for a difficult conversation with his mother. Unlike his wife, he already had a rough idea of what was coming.
But even he did not expect what his mother had come up with.
«Did you sell your apartment?» the woman asked decisively, upon hearing her son’s voice.
«Yes, we sold it. Without that, we wouldn’t have been able to move into the new house. What’s the matter?»
«Well, because! I asked you to help me with some money. A debt is an honorable obligation — it’s not something I made up, people say that,» Olga Vitalievna said petulantly.
«Mom, not again. What debt are you rambling about? That was a gift. The gift that you and Dad gave Katya and me at our wedding. If Dad were still alive, he wouldn’t have thought of such a thing! Both you and Katya’s parents gave us the money with which we bought our apartment right after the wedding.»
«One could call it a gift. Now, everything is possible. But now that you have a new house, it’s about time you return the money for the apartment to me, son.»
«Mom, why should I return it to you? Katya and I were counting on it. It’s not just five thousand.»
«Stop! Stop making fun of your mother! You sold the apartment, so transfer every last penny of the money to me. With it, I’ll buy myself a separate apartment. I can no longer live with your sister’s family, who have settled in my apartment. It’s more than I can handle!»
Just a few months ago, when Victor informed his mother that Katya and he were looking for a house, Olga Vitalievna immediately expressed her desire to live in their apartment once they moved into the new house.
«How wonderful, you’ll move into a house, and I’ll move into your apartment,» she joyfully declared to her son as if the decision had already been made.
«No, Mom, we’re going to sell it. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have enough money. We’ve calculated everything down to the last penny. And you just stay where you are and don’t come up with any ideas.»
But Olga Vitalievna completely ignored these words.
«Well, if you don’t want me to live there, then after you sell it, help your sister with her husband, who has been living with me for three years. At least give them enough for a down payment so they can buy an apartment. Maybe then they’ll finally leave me. And then they can pay you back.»
Victor’s younger sister, Arina, had married some lazy fellow. He would sit at home for months, explaining to his wife and mother-in-law that he was looking for a suitable job. And then he started bringing strange types home. The apartment turned into a thoroughfare. They stayed up late in Olga Vitalievna’s tiny kitchen, drinking and smoking, loudly and unashamedly telling each other vulgar stories.
Periodically, amid financial struggles, Arina and her husband would quarrel and kick him out of the maternal apartment. But invariably, time after time, they reconciled and let the freeloader back in.
Victor had warned his sister many times not to take advantage of their mother.
«Move out from her place. Don’t drive your mother crazy. You have your own separate family, so live separately. You have parties and scandals, and your mother gets upset. I feel sorry for her.»
«Yeah, lecture me, smarty. Maybe you’ll even tell me where we’re supposed to get money to live separately from our mother?» Arina cheekily retorted.
«You need to work. And you need to find proper husbands, not round up drifters. I’m warning you, Arina, don’t mistreat your mother!»
«Leave me alone!» her sister invariably replied. «I can manage on my own, with whom and how I live.»
And recently, Arina, not heeding the advice of her brother and mother, divorced the scoundrel and had a son with him. And poor Olga Vitalievna spent all summer and autumn at the country house, hiding there from the endless cries of the baby and the quarrels of the young parents.
And now, for some reason, the mother decided that Victor should solve all their problems. But he has his own plenty of problems. He has a family and children to take care of. That’s what he just told his mother. And then he made it very clear that she could not expect any money from him.
«Mom, the money you keep harping on about is no longer there. That’s it, forget it. We sold our apartment and invested the money in buying a house. The sellers were waiting for us to provide that sum to finalize the deal, and we could move into the house.»
«No money?» Olga Vitalievna was flustered.
«No, Mom. I told you about this long ago, but you never listen to me,» Victor replied.
«So what am I supposed to do? Live here in the winter too?» the woman almost cried. «What do you expect me to do?»
«Don’t live there. You have an apartment. And you’ll go home,» Victor answered calmly.
«No, Arinka and Vaska won’t let me now. They’re already used to running the household without me,» the mother persisted, sniffing into the phone. «And to be honest, I’m afraid of Arinka’s husband. He called me the other day, warning me not to come home.»
«Mom, stop acting like a child. Pack up, I’ll come over right now and take you home. Stop playing guerrilla. You’re going to your own apartment. And we’ll sort out Vaska.»
Victor, after taking Olga Vitalievna home, was determined. Still planning to leave the country house, he called the local officer and described the situation with his mother.
At home, no one was waiting for the mother. Moreover, when they entered, the son-in-law brazenly and cynically stated:
«What, didn’t you, son, take your mom to your new house? Strange, she fits in perfectly there!»
«Don’t be rude! Otherwise, I’ll quickly decide your place. And it won’t be here at all,» Victor began, his tone combative. «This apartment is my mother’s. And if you, you bastard, dare insult her with even one more word, you’ll be gone from here immediately. I warned the officer.»
«Oh, why call the officer right away? We’re all family here,» the timid Vasiliy started to say differently.
And a week later, he again caused a scandal by coming home drunk. Victor called the officer again and demanded that measures be taken to evict the unregistered son-in-law from the apartment.
Thus, Arina and her husband had to move out from the mother’s place to the husband’s parents. And now they are causing scandals and rowdiness at their new home.
