Library
Maghanap
Home / The Final Household Balance / Chapter 4

Share

Chapter 4

Author: Eternity
It was ten at night when I dragged myself into my bedroom.

I pulled the cash box from the back of my drawer and opened it to add what I had earned that day.

Most of the money was gone.

Only a few crumpled bills remained.

I emptied the box onto my bed and counted everything three times.

Four hundred and six dollars.

There had been more than nine hundred in it the night before.

I searched every drawer and dropped to the floor to check under the bed. Then my bedroom door opened.

Chloe stood there holding up a birthday card.

"Sophie, I got Mom a birthday present!"

I turned sharply.

"What present? Where did you get the money?"

She pointed at the cash box.

"From there."

"I told Dad it was money I'd saved from my allowance, and he took me to the mall to buy Mom that necklace she liked."

My eyes fell on the jewelry store bag in her hand.

Dad had taken an eight-year-old shopping with five hundred dollars in cash and never once asked where it had really come from.

I had earned that money by dancing inside a heavy mascot costume and selling cup after cup of lemonade at the summer market.

Chloe only had to open my drawer to turn five hundred dollars of my work into a present for Mom.

"Chloe, that was my money!"

I snatched the jewelry store bag from her, my voice shaking.

"You're eight years old. You know you can't go into someone else's room and take things that don't belong to you."

Her face crumpled, and she burst into tears.

Mom hurried into the room.

"Sophie, what are you doing?"

She shoved me aside and pulled Chloe into her arms.

"Why are you yelling at your sister?"

"She took my money!"

I pointed at the bills scattered across my bed.

"Five hundred dollars. I worked almost a month for that!"

Chloe sobbed against Mom's shoulder.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to buy you the necklace you liked."

"Then you should have asked me first!"

My eyes burned with tears.

"You can't take money from my room just because you find it."

"That's enough," Mom snapped.

"The money wasn't wasted. Chloe used it to buy me a gift. Did you really have to frighten her over this?"

She said it as if the money hadn't cost me weeks of exhausting work.

"At least Chloe thought to get me something for my birthday," Mom said, looking at me with disappointment. "You're eighteen, and you never think about doing anything for your parents."

Something inside me broke.

"What am I supposed to buy you a gift with?"

Tears spilled down my face.

"You charge me for every meal and every bottle of medicine."

"I feel like I should be paying you just for breathing in this house. What else do you expect me to give you?"

Dad appeared in the doorway.

"Sophie, don't speak to your mother like that."

"How am I supposed to speak to her?"

I grabbed the nearly empty cash box.

"Chloe took my money, and you helped her spend it on a necklace. You call that thoughtful. But when I refused to pay for a cake I couldn't eat, you called me a deadbeat."

"You taught me never to owe anyone a cent, but you're letting her take five hundred dollars straight out of my room!"

Dad's expression darkened.

"Apologize to your mother and your sister."

"I didn't do anything wrong."

"I said apologize."

"No!"

I couldn't hold it in anymore.

"I'm sick of your idea of fairness! You treat me this way because you think I'll stay no matter how much you hurt me!"

Dad reached for my arm, trying to pull me toward Mom.

I stepped back too quickly, struck the edge of the bed, and fell hard onto the floor.

Pain shot through my knee.

Dad stood over me.

"You've become completely disrespectful."

"Your mother and I booked four tickets to Florida to celebrate your graduation. We weren't even going to charge you for the trip."

I stared up at him through my tears.

They had forgotten my eighteenth birthday.

Now they expected me to feel grateful for a graduation trip I hadn't even known about.

Dad took out his phone.

"If you really believe this family is against you, I'll cancel your ticket."

"You can stay home and think about what you've done."

He left with Mom and Chloe, shutting the door behind them.

I remained on the floor, my knee hurting too badly to stand.

Outside my room, Mom was comforting Chloe.

No one came back to ask whether I was hurt.

The next morning, the three of them left for the airport.

It wasn't long before Mom posted pictures from the beach. In one, Dad was helping Chloe build a sandcastle while Mom relaxed beneath an umbrella.

Her caption read:

[Chloe insisted that Dad help with her castle. Looks like I finally get to relax on this trip.]

My phone chimed. A payment suddenly hit my account.

It was the money my old boss had owed me for months—the same woman I'd cursed a hundred times in my dreams for dragging out my paycheck.

My parents had even called me too dependent for not pushing harder to get my own money back.

Ironically, that same money they had criticized me for failing to collect was what finally allowed me to settle every debt I owed them.

I wiped away my tears and went to the bank.

When I got home, I placed the family ledger and $1,704.08 on the nightstand.

Beside them, I left a note.

[Every debt is paid. From this moment on, I owe this family nothing.]

Then I took my acceptance letter, packed my belongings into a single suitcase, and went to the airport.

Goodbye. For good.
Patuloy na basahin ang aklat na ito nang libre
I-scan ang code upang i-download ang App
Nakaraang Kabanata Susunod na kabanata

Pinakabagong kabanata

  • The Final Household Balance   Chapter 10

    Five years later, I defended my dissertation at Princeton.The committee spent two hours discussing my research on how complicated public-assistance procedures shifted additional costs onto people with the least time and money. Professor Carter sat in the back row with coffee she had brought from New York. When the conference-room door opened, she stood first, while Michael took a photograph of me shaking hands with my adviser.The committee requested two revisions to my data notes and approved everything else.Someone was waiting in the hallway.Chloe was eighteen now, with shoulder-length hair and a travel bag from Philadelphia beside her. She had come by train alone. Our parents had driven her to the station but had stayed in Pennsylvania.“I told them you didn’t invite them,” she said. “Dad wanted to wait in the parking lot, so I didn’t give him the time of your defense.”We went to a campus café. Chloe ordered a drink and kept her bank card in her hand until the payment cleared

  • The Final Household Balance   Chapter 9

    Professor Carter’s project examined the barriers low-income New Yorkers faced when applying for public services. I was the only freshman on the research team.We met twice a week and held a separate session to verify data. Since the other assistants were balancing upper-level courses, I took responsibility for cleaning records and coding survey responses, often staying in the library until closing. In early December, Professor Carter displayed my analysis during a meeting and directed everyone’s attention to a group of irregular entries.“Sophie found an error affecting more than two hundred responses,” she said, opening the revision log attached to my report. “From now on, document your verification process using this format.”Afterward, she gave me an agreement for the next phase of the project. Students who continued working during winter break would receive a housing stipend in addition to their regular pay.“I heard you applied to remain on campus,” she said. “This will cover mos

  • The Final Household Balance   Chapter 8

    The two people waiting outside the academic building were my parents.My mother held a department-store bag against her chest, and several gray strands had appeared at her temples. My father stood behind her with a few days’ growth along his jaw. When they saw me come through the doors, they both stepped forward.“Sophie.”My mother offered me the bag.“It’ll be cold in New York soon, so I bought you a coat. Try it on. If it doesn’t fit, we can exchange it.”I left my hands at my sides.“How much was it?”Her arm remained extended.“It doesn’t cost you anything. It’s from me.”“You used to put half the price of anything you bought me in the ledger.”“We won’t do that anymore,” she said quickly. “No more ledger. We can work out new arrangements for clothes, meals, and housing. Just come have dinner with us first.”My father explained that they had called every place where I had worked, driven to Penn State after learning that I was supposed to enroll there, and eventually contacted my

  • The Final Household Balance   Chapter 7

    Over the next month, Mrs. Whitmore found fewer reasons to criticize me.She still expected her coffee at exactly eight fifteen, but she began setting out a second cup before I arrived. Whenever I went grocery shopping, bread and yogurt I liked appeared on her list. If I asked how much I owed, she tapped her cane against the floor and reminded me that the gift card did not require repayment.Mrs. Whitmore had worked in public policy research when she was younger, and her study held decades of reports. After learning that I planned to major in economics, she made me bring over my class schedule and résumé so she could revise my campus job applications.“Don’t write hardworking and reliable. Anyone can claim that.” She crossed out an entire line. “Write what you’ve done and let them decide.”One morning in late September, I arrived on time and rang the bell several times without receiving an answer. Mrs. Whitmore had given me an emergency key. When I opened the door, I found her breakf

  • The Final Household Balance   Chapter 6

    The next afternoon, I followed Tessa’s address to a prewar apartment building on the Upper West Side.The woman who opened the door had white hair, a neatly pressed navy cardigan, and one hand resting on a cane. She looked from my worn sneakers to my backpack, then glanced into the empty hallway.“The person who recommended you didn’t come?”“I can interview by myself.”“You’re eighteen. Who are you qualified to take care of?”She turned toward the living room, leaving the door open. I slipped on a pair of shoe covers and followed her inside.Margaret Whitmore was seventy-nine and had undergone hip surgery several years earlier. She could bathe and manage her medication, but she needed someone to buy groceries, prepare lunch, accompany her on walks, and confirm she was safe when her daughter could not reach her.“The last three companions said I was difficult,” she told me, handing over a list of duties. “You can still leave.”I read the hourly rate and signed my name.On my first da

  • The Final Household Balance   Chapter 5

    As my parents and Chloe boarded their flight home from Florida, I handed over my ninety-nine-dollar one-way boarding pass at an airport in Pennsylvania.Once the plane took off, I watched the ground shrink through the window. Mom often said that truly independent people accepted the consequences of every decision. For years, she had used that principle to justify the ledger, household chores, emergency-room charges, and the school activities I paid for myself. This time, it also saved me from saying goodbye.Rain was falling when I arrived in New York. As soon as my phone regained service, more than twenty missed calls appeared, most from my parents, followed by Chloe and several unfamiliar numbers.Mom had recorded her first voicemail at 5:47 p.m.“Sophie, we’re home. Why is your closet empty? What is that money on your nightstand? Call me as soon as you hear this.”In another message, she said I was angry about losing the Florida trip and ordered me home before dinner. Dad had alre

Higit pang Kabanata

Maaari mong magustuhan

Galugarin at basahin ang magagandang nobela
Libreng basahin ang magagandang nobela sa GoodNovel app. I-download ang mga librong gusto mo at basahin kahit saan at anumang oras.
Libreng basahin ang mga aklat sa app
I-scan ang code para mabasa sa App
DMCA.com Protection Status