Elena was returning from a business trip with a light heart. They had handed over the project a day early, and now she had a whole free evening to herself. Her husband, Dmitry, a sea captain, was on a voyage, and her daughter Alisa, she believed, was enjoying the fresh air and new experiences at an expensive country camp.
Deciding not to go straight back to an empty apartment, Elena got out of the taxi at the entrance to the central park. The warm summer air, the smell of cotton candy, and the distant music from the rides created a feeling of carefree celebration. She walked slowly along the alley, savoring the sudden respite, when her gaze snagged on a familiar little figure by the fountain. A little girl in a pink sundress with two funny pigtails was sitting on the edge and talking to a stranger. Elena’s heart dropped. Alisa.
A cold wave of panic washed over her. Without knowing what she was doing, she rushed to the fountain, shouting her daughter’s name as she ran. Alisa turned, and her tear-streaked little face twisted in surprise. Elena ran up, yanked the child out of the man’s hands, and held her tight, glaring wildly at the stranger. He recoiled at such an onslaught.
“Lady, what are you doing?” he said indignantly, raising his hands. “I saw a child sitting alone and crying, so I came over to ask where her mother was. I was going to take her to security!”
Elena blinked several times, trying to stop shaking. The man looked respectable; his face showed sincere bewilderment, not ill intent.
“I’m sorry… I… I got scared,” she muttered, sinking onto a bench without letting go of her daughter.
When the stranger, shaking his head, walked away, Elena was finally able to focus on the girl.
“Alisa, sweetheart, what happened? Why are you here alone? Where… where is everyone?”
The girl sniffled, smearing tears across her cheeks.
“Aunt Olya told me to sit here and wait,” she sobbed. “She said she was going to take Kirusha on the rides and then come back for me. I kept waiting and waiting, but she still didn’t come.”
Elena froze. Olga? Her sister-in-law? What did she have to do with this? Her mind feverishly tried to piece the puzzle together, but nothing fit.
“Alisa, wait. How did you end up with Aunt Olya? You’re supposed to be at camp. Grandma Ira took you there…”
Vague suspicions surfaced in her mind, and despite the summer heat she felt cold. Something was terribly wrong.
Her memory helpfully threw up a picture from a week ago. The hectic morning before leaving on the business trip. Her mother-in-law, Irina Pavlovna, cooing over Alisa, extolling the virtues of a new private camp supposedly opened by an old friend of hers. “An elite place, Lenochka! Pine forest, a pool, five meals a day. The best teachers working with the kids!”
She had shown Elena glossy photos of the buildings and happy children’s faces, downloaded from the internet. She had also named the price, which momentarily took Elena’s breath away—forty-five thousand for a session. “That’s a bargain, for friends!” her mother-in-law insisted. In the rush, trusting her husband’s mother, Elena had transferred the money to her card on the spot, without even thinking to verify the information. And now her daughter, who was supposed to be breathing pine-forest air, was sitting alone in a city park.
“Let’s go find your aunt,” Elena said firmly, lifting her daughter from her lap. Inside, everything boiled with rage and dark foreboding.
They headed toward the rides, from which came cheerful music and the shrieks of people spinning around. The crowd, the bright lights, the smell of popcorn—all of it now felt like a false, mocking set. They quickly found Olga. She was standing by the fence of the carousel with horses, lazily watching her son Kirusha go around again. In one hand she held a half-eaten cotton candy; her face wore an expression of complete bliss. She wasn’t looking for her niece, wasn’t worried. She was simply relaxing.
Noticing Elena with Alisa, Olga froze, and the smile slowly slid from her face. She looked, confused, at her niece, then at her furious sister-in-law.
“Lena? You… you’re on a business trip…”
“Why isn’t Alisa at camp?” Elena’s voice was quiet, but all the more menacing for it. “Why was she sitting alone by the fountain and crying?”
Olga fluttered her eyelashes, thinking frantically.
“Oh, she’s been so disobedient today! I told her a hundred times—stay with me! But she ran off! I was just about to go look for her, only Kirusha needed to finish his ride…” Her lie was so unconvincing and pathetic that Elena’s last drop of patience evaporated.
“You’re lying!” she cried.
The fury that had been building since she’d found her daughter burst out. Elena stepped toward her sister-in-law and raised her hand, wanting to slap her, to vent all her fear and anger. Olga squealed in fright, jumped back, and, awkwardly catching her foot on her other leg, toppled onto the emerald lawn, dropping the cotton candy. Elena looked down at her with icy contempt. There was nothing more to say. Silently lifting her stunned daughter into her arms, she turned and walked out of that park of lies and indifference.
At home, after sitting Alisa down with tea and cookies, Elena began gently asking questions. She didn’t press, afraid of frightening the child; she simply listened. And the truth, as told by her daughter, turned out to be banal and cynical. There had been no camp at all.
Grandma, Irina Pavlovna, had simply brought her over to Aunt Olya’s, said that Mommy was on a business trip and she’d stay here for a week. “Grandma said it’s more fun at Aunt Olya’s than sitting alone at her place,” Alisa finished, biting into a cookie. And Olga, burdened with a sudden obligation, had just dumped her niece on a bench so she wouldn’t get in the way while she entertained her own son. The cold fury gave way to a calculating anger. Elena kissed her daughter, put on a cartoon for her, and drove to her mother-in-law’s.
Irina Pavlovna lived in the next district. Elena entered the building, went up to the floor, and pressed the doorbell. The door opened almost immediately. Her mother-in-law stood on the threshold with the phone at her ear, a satisfied smile shining on her face.
“Yes, Lyudochka, imagine! A dream come true! The moment I saw it, I knew—it was mine!” she chirped into the receiver.
Seeing her daughter-in-law, Irina Pavlovna froze, and the smile slowly melted away.
“Lyuda, I’ll call you back,” she said quickly and hung up. “Lenochka? What are you doing here? You weren’t supposed to be back until tomorrow…”
Elena walked past her into the living room without a word. And there she immediately saw what her mother-in-law had been so happily telling her friend about. Hanging over the back of the sofa, shimmering in the rays of the evening sun, was a luxurious mink coat. Black, glossy, with a huge hood. It looked ostentatiously expensive, like an exhibit from a boutique on the city’s main street. Elena stepped closer and ran her hand over the soft, silky fur. Forty-five thousand. There it was, hanging on the couch.
Irina Pavlovna bustled about, red blotches spreading over her face.
“Oh, that… that’s just… Don’t get the wrong idea! I just stopped in to look, and they had such a sale! Incredible! Fifty percent off! And zero-interest installments. I added a bit of my savings and bought it. I’ve dreamed of one for so long… And about the camp—can you imagine the bad luck! My friend had some problems, they canceled the session at the last minute! They promised to return the money, of course. And I decided, since Alisa’s vacation fell through, she might as well stay with Olya for a while—it’s better than stuffy city air…”
She spoke fast, confusedly, jumping from one thing to another, and with every word she sank deeper into her own lies. Elena listened silently, without interrupting, letting her talk herself out. When the stream of excuses ran dry, she asked coldly:
“And why did you tell me that this ‘camp’ forbids mobile phones? So I couldn’t call my daughter and the truth wouldn’t come out sooner?”
Irina Pavlovna opened her mouth but couldn’t get a word out. She stared at her daughter-in-law with wide, frightened eyes. The mask of the benevolent mother-in-law had slipped, revealing a deceitful, petty, selfish woman who was willing to risk her granddaughter’s safety for a piece of mink.
Elena said nothing more. Arguing, trying to prove something, was pointless. She walked over to the sofa, carefully lifted the coat off the back, threw it over her arm, and headed for the door. Snapping out of her stupor, Irina Pavlovna lunged after her with a shriek.
“Where are you going?! Put that down! It’s mine!” She grabbed at the sleeve of the coat, trying to wrench it from her daughter-in-law’s hands.
Her face was twisted with malice and greed. In that moment she looked least of all like a loving grandmother.
“It’s my coat! I bought it! I’m the one who’ll be paying for it!” she shouted, breathless.
Elena stopped in the hallway and looked her mother-in-law straight in the eye. Her gaze was cold as steel. With one sharp, strong tug she pulled the coat toward herself. Caught off guard, Irina Pavlovna lost her balance and nearly fell, flailing. She stared at Elena with helpless fury.
“Consider it fair compensation,” Elena said in an icy tone. “Compensation for the fact that my child could have ended up in anyone’s hands while you were trying on your dream.”
She turned, opened the door, and stepped out onto the landing, leaving behind a stunned mother-in-law and her frustrated dream of luxury.
A week later Dmitry returned from his voyage. Over dinner, as he tucked into her signature lasagna and told her about a storm in the Bay of Biscay, Elena casually remarked:
“Imagine, darling, your mother decided to give me a present. While I was on my business trip, she bought me a gorgeous mink coat.”
She took the coat out of the closet and showed it to her husband.
“She said, ‘I want my beloved daughter-in-law to always look beautiful.’ Nice, isn’t it?”
Dmitry whistled, examining the expensive item.
“Wow! That’s generous. She’s always telling me she’s short on money. Well, Mom really went for it! Good for her! It looks great on you, Len.”
He smiled trustingly and kissed his wife. He believed her. And Elena needed nothing more. Her mother-in-law got her lesson, and justice—albeit in an unconventional form—prevailed.
The first snow fell in early December, wrapping the city in a fluffy white blanket. Irina Pavlovna’s birthday was approaching. It would have been impossible to skip the family celebration—Dmitry wouldn’t have understood. Nor did Elena intend to. She had a plan. On the appointed day, with her husband already waiting for her in the car, she took that very coat out of the closet. Putting it on over an elegant dress, she looked at herself in the mirror. The fur gleamed, emphasizing her poise and confidence. It wasn’t just clothing. It was a trophy.
When they drove up to her mother-in-law’s building, Elena asked Dmitry to take the cake from the trunk while she went to the door. She rang the bell. A moment later the door flew open, and there stood Irina Pavlovna with the strained smile of a gracious hostess. Seeing her daughter-in-law in her unrealized new purchase, she froze. The smile slid off her face; her lips tightened into a thin, spiteful line. She looked at the coat, then raised her gaze to Elena’s face, which showed not a trace of remorse—only calm, cold superiority. Irina Pavlovna didn’t dare say a word. She knew that any objection would immediately expose her deceit to her son, who was just coming up to the door with the cake.
“Mom, happy birthday!” Dmitry shouted cheerfully, kissing his mother. “Oh, Len, you look like a queen in that coat!”
Irina Pavlovna forced something like a smile and silently let them in.
All evening she was forced to play a part. To pose as a happy celebrant, a gracious hostess, a loving mother and grandmother. She bustled around the table, accepted congratulations, smiled at the guests, but her eyes kept returning to the chair over whose back hung that very mink coat. And Elena savored her quiet triumph.
She didn’t gloat aloud, didn’t make cutting remarks. She was simply there, in this coat bought with the money meant for her daughter. And that silent presence spoke louder than any accusation. It was an evening of Elena’s victory and Irina Pavlovna’s bitter defeat, as the latter had to accept that her meanness had turned against her.
