I Had To Pay The Balance

Above the iron gate hung a few, crooked, handwritten words.

[Little Baris Ecological Farm]

My mother-in-law, Mabel Grath, and the others looked displeased.

My sister-in-law, Marlene Grath, pointed at the chicken droppings all over the ground and shrieked, “Where’s my Aiffel Tower?! Where’s my Camps-Elysees?!”

I pointed at a pointed tower-like object welded from scrap steel bars in the middle of the yard.

“See that? That’s the tower.”

As for the avenue, I pointed at the muddy path. “This is the eco-avenue.”

Mabel’s expression darkened. But she held back from looking bad in front of everyone else.

She forced out a dry laugh and looked at me sharply. She said, “Noelle Frost, did you forget to explain things to the driver? We were supposed to be going to the airport to fly to Erope. How did we end up here?”

My husband’s aunt, Karen Grath, who had been silent, chimed in, “Exactly! Weren’t we supposed to go to Erope? How did we end up in the middle of nowhere?”

I glanced at Karen and sneered inwardly.

For this New Year’s trip, Mabel had specifically invited Shaun Grath, her younger brother, and his family to show off to.

Six people were traveling in total.

She always loved putting on airs as an intellectual in front of Shaun and Karen. She loved mocking them for being ill-educated.

She also pretended to be generous by offering to cover all the expenses. Her face beamed with smugness.

“See, this is why education is so great. My pension alone is enough to take the whole family abroad several times over. Treating you to a trip is nothing at all!”

In reality, her monthly pension of $800 was not even enough to buy plane tickets for six people.

Previously, she contributed a small fraction of the cost.

I silently covered the rest to uphold her image.

This time, too, she clearly thought I would play along.

“Mabel, the money you gave me is only enough to visit this place,” I said calmly.

Mabel’s face soured.

She suppressed her anger and asked, “What do you mean? I gave you so much money, and you brought us to a dump like this?”

I sneered. “I don’t think you understand what ‘so much money’ means. You only sent me $400 total. You really think that’s enough to get us out of the country?”

“Four hundred dollars?!” Karen’s eyes went wide. She covered her mouth dramatically.

“Mabel, didn’t you say in the family chat that this was supposed to be a luxury Eropean trip? $400 wouldn’t even cover our plane tickets!”

A flash of panic flickered in Mabel’s eyes. She shot me a glare.

Then, she quickly regained her composure.

With teary eyes, she confronted me.

“Noelle, I trusted you! That’s why I sent you the money and let you handle everything. But I never expected this! What did you do with all the money?”

Marlene jumped in.

“Did you pocket it yourself? Did you drag us out here on purpose?

“Noelle, don’t be so greedy! We looked the other way when you used to skim a little off the top. But this is too much! You took a fortune meant for an Eropean trip and booked us a farm stay instead!”