“Vityush, I’ve got a small problem here,” Oksana Gennadyevna’s voice sounded guilty over the phone. “Could you transfer me three thousand? I need groceries and I have to pay the rest of the apartment bill.”
Vitya did not even think twice.
“I’ll send it now, Mom.”
Tanya froze by the stove, ladle in hand. The eggs were sizzling in the frying pan, but she did not even look in that direction.
“Wait,” she said, stepping toward her husband. “Vitya, hold on a second.”
“Don’t worry, Mom, I’ll do it right now,” Vitya said, already opening his banking app.
“Vitya!” Tanya snatched the phone from his hand. “Oksana Gennadyevna, call back in ten minutes, all right?”
She hung up without waiting for her mother-in-law’s answer.
“What are you doing?!” Vitya jumped up. “Give me back my phone!”
“No. Sit down. We need to talk first.”
“What is there to talk about? My mother needs money!”
Tanya opened the desk drawer and took out a notebook. She opened it to the bookmarked page.
“Here. December twelfth — five thousand for medicine. December twenty-third — four thousand, supposedly for an electricity debt. January second — three and a half thousand for holiday groceries. January fifteenth — six thousand, utilities again. And today, January twenty-seventh, another three thousand.”
Vitya stared at the notebook as if he were seeing it for the first time.
“You’ve been writing this down?”
“I keep track of our family budget, in case you forgot. In two months, we’ve given your mother twenty-one and a half thousand rubles. Twenty-one! And next month is Elka’s birthday, we have to pay for her English lessons, and you need a jacket — your old one is falling apart.”
“She is my mother, Tanya!”
“And this is our money!” Tanya slapped the notebook down on the table. “Your mother needs money again? I’m not an ATM for you people! She gets an eighteen-thousand pension, she works as a cashier and earns twenty-five! Plus Lena sends her five to seven thousand every month. That’s over forty thousand a month, Vitya! Her utilities are eight. Where does the rest go?”
“Maybe on groceries! Prices have gone up!”
“Thirty thousand a month on groceries? For one woman? Vitya, use your head!”
“Don’t talk about my mother like that!”
“I’m not talking about your mother! I’m talking about money that’s flowing away like water! And what about us? I didn’t buy myself winter boots. I’m wearing the same glued-up pair for the third year. We didn’t sign Elya up for swimming, even though she asked. And your mother…”
“My mother has worked her whole life!” Vitya stood up and grabbed his jacket from the hanger. “And I’m supposed to refuse her because of some boots? Are you serious?”
“Vitya, wait!”
But he had already slammed the door.
Elya peeked out of her room, sleepy, wearing unicorn pajamas.
“Mom, where did Dad go?”
“He went to work, sweetheart. Go wash up, we’ll have breakfast.”
“Why were you shouting?”
Tanya crouched down in front of her daughter and smoothed her messy bangs.
“Adults argue sometimes, El. It’s nothing terrible. Go wash your face.”
When her daughter closed the bathroom door, Tanya returned to the kitchen. The eggs had burned. She turned off the stove and leaned her forehead against the refrigerator. The notebook with the records lay open on the table. Twenty-one and a half thousand in two months. And Vitya had been sending money before December too. How much had it all added up to?
Her phone vibrated. A message from Vitya: “Transferred the money to Mom. We’ll discuss it tonight.”
Tanya squeezed the phone so tightly in her hand that her knuckles turned white.
At work, she did not even try to concentrate. She looked through invoices for construction materials, but the numbers blurred before her eyes. One thought kept turning in her mind: where was Oksana Gennadyevna spending so much money?
“Tanyush, why are you so gloomy?” Svetlana, a colleague from the next department, peeked into her office. “Your tea’s probably gone cold already.”
“Sveta, has your mother-in-law ever asked you for money?”
“Mine? Not once. She rents out her own apartment and lives comfortably. Why?”
Tanya told her everything. Svetlana listened, her eyes growing wider and wider.
“Twenty thousand in two months? Are you serious?”
“Dead serious.”
“Maybe she’s helping someone? Some friend, maybe?”
“I don’t know. Vitya gets defensive about any questions. ‘She’s my mother,’ and that’s it.”
Svetlana thought for a moment.
“Listen, remember I told you about my aunt Galya? The one who was always asking for money?”
“I vaguely remember.”
“Well, it turned out she was secretly playing online games. On her phone. Constant donations, upgrading characters. In six months she blew through two hundred thousand. The family almost fell apart when they found out.”
“Oksana Gennadyevna? Playing games?” Tanya shook her head. “She barely knows how to use a messenger app. What games?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s something else. Scammers are very good at deceiving elderly people now. They call, frighten them, and take their money.”
“Scammers…” Tanya leaned back in her chair. “Doesn’t seem like it. She would panic and tell Vitya.”
“Then observe her. Go visit her, see how she’s living. Maybe you’ll notice something.”
That evening, Tanya deliberately stopped by the supermarket, bought groceries, and went to her mother-in-law’s place. Oksana Gennadyevna did not open the door right away; she asked through the intercom first.
“Tanya? Did something happen?”
“I brought groceries. Milk, cottage cheese, vegetables.”
“Oh, why did you do that? Come in.”
The apartment greeted her with cleanliness and order. There was no sign of hardship. A new shoe cabinet stood in the hallway — clearly a recent purchase. In the kitchen, there was a modern electric kettle that definitely had not been there a month earlier.
“Come in, come in,” Oksana Gennadyevna said, fussing over the groceries Tanya had brought. “Thank you, of course, but you didn’t have to spend money.”
“Oh, it’s not really spending,” Tanya said, looking around. “Oh, did you buy a new kettle?”
“Hm? Ah, yes. The old one broke, I had to.”
“And the shoe cabinet is new too?”
Oksana Gennadyevna tensed slightly.
“Yes. It was on sale, so I bought it. No point letting a good deal go to waste.”
Tanya walked into the room. The refrigerator was clearly not empty — through the glass she could see the shelves were full. On the windowsill stood a new ficus in a beautiful pot. On the nightstand…
“Oh, is that a new phone?” Tanya pointed to the smartphone in a bright pink case.
Oksana Gennadyevna quickly stepped forward, grabbed the phone, and shoved it into the pocket of her robe.
“They gave it to me at work. A New Year’s bonus.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“It’s ordinary,” her mother-in-law said, clearly nervous. “Would you like tea?”
“Thank you, but I should go. Elka is home alone doing homework.”
“All right then. Thank you for the groceries.”
Tanya drove home in complete confusion. A new phone, a shoe cabinet, a kettle… A woman who, three days earlier, had asked for money for groceries and utilities. None of it made sense.
At home, Vitya was sitting with Elya at her desk, checking her school diary.
“You’re back?” he said without even turning around.
“I’m back. I was at your mother’s.”
Now he turned.
“Why?”
“I brought her groceries.”
“Why would you do that? She can buy them herself.”
“She certainly can,” Tanya said, hanging up her jacket. “By the way, she has a new phone there. And a shoe cabinet. And a kettle.”
“So what? She has the right to buy things.”
“Vitya, three days ago she asked for money for groceries and utilities! And everything at her place is new!”
“Maybe she bought them on sale! Or maybe she really did get a bonus!”
“What kind of bonus does a supermarket cashier get?! Do you even believe that yourself?”
Elya closed her textbook.
“Mom, Dad, can I go to my room?”
“Go ahead, sweetheart,” Tanya said, stroking her daughter’s head.
When the door closed behind Elya, Vitya stood up.
“Tanya, I don’t understand what you’re trying to achieve.”
“I want to understand where the money is going! Your mother earns over forty thousand, Lena sends her money, and we help her too. That comes out to nearly sixty thousand a month! For one person! And she still keeps asking!”
“Maybe it’s not enough for her!”
“Not enough for what?! New phones?!”
“She has worked her whole life! Maybe she wants to treat herself!”
“At our expense?! Vitya, do you understand that she’s spending our money on her pleasures?”
Vitya clenched his fists.
“My mother raised me. I owe it to her to help.”
“Help, yes. But not sponsor God knows what!”
“I’m not discussing this.”
He went into the bedroom and closed the door. Tanya remained standing in the kitchen, feeling everything boiling inside her.
She took out her phone and found the number of Lena, Vitya’s younger sister. They did not talk often, but now was not the time for formalities.
“Hello, Lena? It’s Tanya.”
“Hi,” Lena said, sounding surprised. “Did something happen?”
“Can I talk to you? About your mother.”
A pause.
“About Mom? What’s wrong with her?”
“Does she ask you for money too?”
Lena sighed.
“She does. Constantly. I’ve gotten used to it, honestly.”
“And have you ever wondered where it goes?”
“Of course I have. Tanyush, over the past three months I’ve sent her twenty thousand on top of the usual help. First she supposedly needed it for the dentist, then for a winter coat, then for something else. I’ve lost track.”
“And?”
“What can I do? She’s my mother. She asked, I sent it.”
“Lena, have you noticed any new things appearing at her place?”
“New things?” Lena thought. “Well, she changed her phone recently. I was surprised, because the old one was fine. She said she took this one on installment during a promotion.”
“And anything else?”
“I don’t know, Tanya. I live in another city and rarely visit. Why?”
Tanya told her about her visit. Lena listened silently.
“It’s all strange,” she finally said. “Maybe I really should come and see?”
“Let’s do that. Vitya refuses to talk to me about it at all.”
“I understand. He has always defended Mom. All right, I’ll try to come this weekend. We’ll call each other?”
“We will.”
On Saturday, Lena really did come. They met in a café near Oksana Gennadyevna’s building. Lena looked tired after the overnight trip, but there was determination in her eyes.
“I was thinking the whole way here,” she admitted, stirring sugar into her mug. “What if Mom really is draining money somewhere? We need to know.”
“That’s exactly what I think,” Tanya nodded. “Vitya believes I’m sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong.”
“Does he know I came?”
“No. I told him I was going shopping with a friend.”
They went to Oksana’s together. Their mother-in-law opened the door and froze when she saw both of them.
“Lena? You didn’t warn me!”
“I decided to surprise you,” Lena said, hugging her mother. “May we come in?”
“Yes, of course, come in.”
Oksana Gennadyevna was clearly nervous. She fussed around, offering tea, then coffee, then cookies. Tanya and Lena exchanged glances.
“Mom, we need to talk,” Lena said, sitting on the sofa.
“About what? Did something happen?”
“Mom, you constantly ask us for money. From me, from Vitya. Pretty large sums. We want to understand what it’s being spent on.”
Oksana Gennadyevna turned red.
“What business is it of yours? I’m an adult!”
“Mom, we’re helping you. We have the right to know.”
“You have no right to anything!” her mother-in-law’s voice broke into a shout. “I earn my own money, I pay for my own apartment, I live on my own! If I’m short, I ask my children. That’s normal!”
“Mom, you have a pension and a salary,” Lena continued patiently. “That’s over forty thousand. Where does it go?”
“On life! On groceries! On utilities! On clothes!”
“On new phones?” Tanya cut in.
Oksana Gennadyevna shot her an angry look.
“What does the phone have to do with anything?! I bought it once! The old one broke!”
“And the shoe cabinet. And the kettle. And the flowerpot,” Tanya listed calmly.
“Are you spying on me?!”
“We’re trying to understand, Mom,” Lena stood up and approached her. “If you have problems, if someone is threatening you, if someone is deceiving you — tell us. We’ll help.”
“No one is threatening me! No one is deceiving me! It’s just…” Oksana Gennadyevna fell silent and turned toward the window.
“Just what?”
“Nothing. Leave. Your questions are making me feel sick.”
“Mom…”
“I said leave!”
They went out onto the stairwell, confused. Lena leaned against the wall.
“What was that?”
“I don’t know,” Tanya shook her head. “She’s hiding something. She’s definitely hiding something.”
At that moment, an elderly woman with a shopping bag came out of the neighboring apartment. She saw them and smiled.
“Oh, Tanechka! Hello, dear! Brought groceries for Oksana again?”
“Hello, Nadezhda Ivanovna,” Tanya remembered the neighbor. “No, we just came to check on her.”
“Good, good. Although she manages fine without you,” the neighbor came closer and lowered her voice. “She’s very active with shopping these days. Comes back every week with bags.”
“What kind of bags?”
“Regular ones. I’ve seen her several times with bags from Children’s World. I thought she was buying gifts for her granddaughter.”
Tanya and Lena exchanged looks.
“Children’s World?” Lena repeated.
“Yes. The big store two blocks away. I buy toys there for my great-grandchildren myself. Why?”
“Nothing. Thank you, Nadezhda Ivanovna.”
When the neighbor left, Lena grabbed Tanya’s arm.
“Children’s World? Why would Mom go there? Elka isn’t really that little anymore; she’s not interested in those kinds of toys.”
“That’s exactly what I don’t understand.”
The next day, Sunday, Tanya went to that very Children’s World store. She wandered between the shelves, trying to understand what Oksana Gennadyevna could have been buying there. Dolls, construction sets, board games, stuffed animals… All of it was expensive. Could her mother-in-law really be spending money on toys? But why?
At home, Vitya was waiting for her with a grim face.
“Where were you?”
“Out walking.”
“Tanya, Mom called. She said you and Lena came over and interrogated her.”
“It wasn’t an interrogation. It was a normal conversation.”
“She was upset! She cried on the phone!”
“Vitya, your mother is hiding something!”
“She isn’t hiding anything! You’re just sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong!”
“She’s spending our money on God knows what! It is our business!”
“Enough!” Vitya slammed his fist on the table. “Enough already! I said I’m helping my mother, and that’s final!”
“Then help her from your own money!” Tanya lost control too. “From your salary! Don’t touch mine!”
“What do you mean, my own money?! We have a shared budget!”
“Exactly! Shared! Which means decisions about it are made together! But you didn’t even consult me. You just took the money and sent it!”
Vitya grabbed his jacket.
“I’m going to my mother’s. I’ll spend the night there.”
“Go!”
The door slammed again. Tanya sank onto a chair and covered her face with her hands. A quiet sob came from the room. Elya stood in the doorway, hugging herself, tears running down her cheeks.
“Mom, are you and Dad going to get divorced?”
“No, Elechka, no,” Tanya quickly hugged her daughter. “We just argued. Adults argue sometimes, but that doesn’t mean we’re getting divorced.”
“But Dad left.”
“Dad will come back soon. Everything will be all right, I promise.”
But she herself was no longer sure of her words.
On Monday at work, Tanya could not concentrate. Vitya had not spent the night at home; in the morning he had only sent a short message: “Picked up my tools, went to the site.” Nothing else.
Svetlana came in after lunch and immediately noticed her state.
“Tanyukh, why do you look like a squeezed lemon?”
“Vitya went to his mother’s. We fought.”
“Because of the money again?”
“Because of the money, because of his mother, because of everything at once,” Tanya said tiredly, running a hand over her face. “Sveta, I found out something strange. Oksana Gennadyevna buys toys at Children’s World.”
“Toys? For her granddaughter?”
“Elka isn’t that age anymore. And she never bought her expensive toys anyway. At most, some book for a holiday.”
“Maybe for other children? Charity?”
“I don’t know. But the neighbor said she saw her several times with bags from there.”
“That’s strange,” Svetlana said thoughtfully. “Maybe you need to ask her directly?”
“I tried. She gets hostile. Vitya does too. He says I’m sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong.”
The phone vibrated. Lena.
“Tanya, where are you? Can we talk?”
“Yes, of course. What happened?”
“I spoke to Mom on video yesterday. Just casually, to congratulate her on Old New Year. So, she was showing me the room, and out of the corner of my eye I saw… There were boxes in the corner. A lot of boxes. Clearly from stores, with some kind of logos. Mom quickly turned the camera away, but I noticed.”
“What kind of boxes?”
“I couldn’t tell. But they were bright, colorful. Like toy boxes.”
Tanya gripped the phone tighter.
“Lena, can you come again? This coming weekend?”
“I can. What are you planning?”
“We need to talk to your mother seriously. All of us together. With Vitya too.”
“Agreed.”
That evening, Vitya came home late, dirty from work and exhausted. Tanya met him silently. He went into the bathroom and stayed there a long time. When he came out, she was sitting in the kitchen with a cup of cold tea.
“Vitya, we need to talk.”
“Again?” he said, wearily sitting down across from her.
“Yes. Lena is coming on Saturday. She wants to talk to your mother. Seriously.”
“About what?”
“About the money. About where it goes.”
“Tanya, again?”
“Vitya, your mother is buying toys. A lot of toys. At Children’s World. Lena saw boxes at her place.”
Vitya frowned.
“What toys? For Elya?”
“Not for Elya. Elya doesn’t even know about them. I specifically asked.”
“Then for whom?”
“That’s what we want to find out.”
Vitya was silent, looking out the window. Tanya saw his jaw tighten, his eyebrow twitch. He was beginning to doubt too.
“All right,” he finally said. “We’ll talk. All together.”
On Saturday, the three of them gathered at Oksana Gennadyevna’s: Tanya, Vitya, and Lena. Lena’s husband Andrey also came with them — a tall, quiet man who usually did not interfere in family matters, but now had apparently decided to support his wife.
Oksana Gennadyevna opened the door and immediately understood this was not just a visit.
“What do you want?”
“Mom, we need to talk,” Lena said, entering first. “A serious talk.”
“I have nothing to talk to you about.”
“We very much do,” Vitya followed her in. “Mom, what is going on? Why do you keep asking for money and then spending it on God knows what?”
“I spend it on whatever I want! That’s my business!”
“But it’s our money!” Tanya could not hold back.
“Yours?” Oksana Gennadyevna turned to her. “I didn’t ask you to help me! You shove it at me yourselves!”
“Mom, wait,” Lena took her mother’s hand. “We don’t want to fight. We want to understand. You have an income, a normal income. But you still keep asking. Why?”
“Because it’s not enough!”
“Not enough for what?!”
“For life!”
“Mom, there are boxes standing in the corner,” Lena pointed toward the back room. “I saw them on video. What’s in them?”
Oksana Gennadyevna turned pale.
“Nothing. Old things.”
“Mom, don’t lie.”
“Don’t you dare talk to me like that!”
“Oksana Gennadyevna,” Andrey unexpectedly spoke. “Let’s do this peacefully. Open that room and show us what’s there. Then all the questions will disappear.”
“I won’t show you! This is my home! My room!”
“Mom,” Vitya stepped toward her. “Please. Show us.”
At that moment, the door of the neighboring apartment opened, and Nadezhda Ivanovna appeared on the threshold with a trash bag in her hand.
“Oh, I heard voices! Hello, hello! Oksana Gennadyevna, is your whole family gathered?”
“Hello, Nadezhda Ivanovna,” Lena answered automatically.
“Oksana Gennadyevna, you’re doing such a good thing helping children!” the neighbor smiled. “I keep meaning to join in, but I never get around to it.”
Everyone froze.
“What children?” Vitya asked.
“Why, for the orphanage, of course! You’re collecting toys! I saw the notice in the entrance hall! Such a kind deed!”
Oksana Gennadyevna grabbed the doorframe.
“Nadya, you… well…”
“What notice?” Tanya quickly stepped out onto the landing. “Where?”
“Over there, on the board,” the neighbor pointed to the noticeboard near the elevator.
Tanya went over. Sure enough, among ads about selling garages and searching for lost cats, there was a sheet of paper: “Collecting toys for the Solnyshko orphanage. Please bring them to the address…” The address of the building followed, but not the apartment number.
Tanya returned. Everyone was looking at Oksana Gennadyevna.
“Mom,” Lena said quietly. “What orphanage?”
“None,” Oksana Gennadyevna turned away.
“But the neighbor said…”
“The neighbor is mistaken!”
“Mom, what’s in that room?”
“Nothing!”
“Then show us!”
“I won’t!”
Vitya simply walked past his mother and threw open the door to the back room. Everyone gasped.
The room was lined with shelves. On the shelves, toys stood in neat rows. Dolls of every size and kind. Construction sets in boxes. Toy cars. Stuffed animals. Board games. Puzzles. Everything was new, packaged, with price tags. A lot of it. A great deal of it.
“Mom,” Lena’s voice trembled. “What is this?”
Oksana Gennadyevna stood in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest, a stubborn expression on her face.
“Mine.”
“But why?”
“Because I want to buy them.”
Tanya approached the nearest shelf and picked up a doll box. The price was four and a half thousand.
“Oksana Gennadyevna, this is… this is tens of thousands of rubles.”
“So?”
“Why do you need so many toys?”
“Why do people collect paintings?” Oksana Gennadyevna lifted her chin. “Or stamps? Or coins? I like toys. So I buy them.”
“But you ask us for money!” Vitya finally lost his composure. “You constantly ask! And you spend it on this?!”
“I spend my own money! If I don’t have enough, I ask my children! I have the right!”
“Mom, do you understand that this isn’t normal?” Lena gestured around the room. “You have toys here worth… probably a hundred thousand!”
“More,” Oksana Gennadyevna smirked. “I’ve been collecting for a year. It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Neat. I enjoy looking at them.”
“Enjoy looking…” Tanya slowly put the doll back. “And do you enjoy watching your son being torn between you and his family?”
“What does that have to do with it?”
“It has everything to do with it. You’re extracting money from us for your hobby! We deny ourselves everything, and you buy dolls!”
“No one is forcing you to give me money!”
“Mom,” Vitya approached her. “Mom, how could you? You knew things were hard for us. You knew we needed to save for Elka’s birthday. That I needed a jacket. And you…”
“And me what? Am I guilty because I want to live normally? Because I want to buy something for myself?”
“But why toys?!” Lena could not hold back. “Mom, you don’t even unpack them!”
“I like them that way. In boxes. Beautiful. I arrange them and admire them. It’s my hobby.”
“A hobby…” Vitya leaned against the wall. “At our expense.”
“At my expense! I work! I earn money!”
“And you spend more than you earn!” Tanya could not stop herself. “Then you ask us! Do you understand what that’s called?”
“What is it called?”
“Greed. Ordinary greed. Your own money isn’t enough for you, so you want ours too.”
Oksana Gennadyevna turned pale, then red.
“Get out.”
“Mom…”
“Out! All of you out! I don’t need your help! I didn’t ask you to come here!”
“Mom, calm down,” Lena tried to hug her, but she pulled away.
“Leave. And don’t come back.”
They went out onto the landing, stunned. Nadezhda Ivanovna had already managed to hide inside her apartment. Vitya stood staring at the floor.
“Vityush,” Lena touched his shoulder. “Are you all right?”
“I didn’t know,” he raised his eyes to her. “I swear, I didn’t know.”
“None of us knew.”
Tanya was silent. A storm of emotions raged inside her — anger, resentment, disappointment. But there was also pity. For Vitya, who had just learned that his mother had deceived them all. For Lena, who also felt betrayed. Even for Oksana Gennadyevna — an unhappy woman with her strange obsession.
At home, the three of them sat in the kitchen — Tanya, Vitya, and Lena. Andrey had gone on business, promising to return in the evening. Elya was at Tanya’s mother’s; they had arranged it in advance, deciding it was better for the child not to be present during the family conversation.
“Toys,” Vitya kept repeating as if stuck on the word. “She spends money on toys.”
“Vityush, that’s already an addiction,” Lena said, sitting across from him. “When a person can’t stop.”
“She’s an adult,” he ran a hand through his hair. “How can someone get pulled into something like that?”
“Easily,” Tanya poured water into a glass and placed it in front of her husband. “Everyone has their own thing. Some people get hooked on online games, some on shopping. Your mother got hooked on toys.”
“But why toys? She doesn’t have little grandchildren!”
“She said it herself — she likes looking at them. She collects them.”
Lena took out her phone, typed something, and read.
“It says here that this happens. Compulsive hoarding. When a person buys things not because they need them, but because the act of buying brings pleasure. Like a drug.”
“And what do we do now?”
“I don’t know,” Lena put the phone away. “Mom won’t admit she has a problem.”
“And she won’t,” Tanya leaned back in her chair. “You saw her. She thinks she has the right to spend her money however she wants. And ours, too, by the way.”
“Tanyush, forgive me,” Vitya turned to her. “I really didn’t know.”
“I’m not angry at you, Vitya. It’s not your fault.”
“But I should have noticed. I should have asked.”
“You trusted your mother. That’s normal.”
Lena stood up and went to the window.
“You know what hurts the most? She isn’t even trying to stop. She doesn’t care that we’re fighting because of her. That your family is having problems. Her dolls matter more to her.”
“Don’t say that,” Vitya flinched.
“What should I say?! Vityush, open your eyes! Mom made her choice! She chose her hobby over us!”
“She didn’t choose…”
“She did! When we came, when we started talking, she had a chance to explain everything, ask for help, admit she couldn’t handle it. But she just threw us out.”
Vitya covered his face with his hands. Tanya came over and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
“We’ll figure something out.”
“What are we going to figure out?” he lifted his head. “She won’t listen. She won’t go to a doctor, won’t admit this is a problem.”
“Then we simply stop giving her money.”
“Tanya is right,” Lena returned to the table. “Vitya, I won’t send Mom another kopeck. Only if she shows receipts proving the money is really for food or utilities.”
“She’ll never show them.”
“Then she won’t get anything.”
Vitya was silent for a long time. Then he nodded.
“All right. I won’t transfer anything either.”
Tanya exhaled. Finally, they were on the same side.
The next day, Sunday, Oksana Gennadyevna called. Vitya even flinched when he saw her name on the screen.
“Hello, Mom.”
“Vitya, I need three thousand. For groceries.”
“Mom, I can’t.”
A pause.
“What do you mean, you can’t?”
“I’m not going to give you money. I’m sorry.”
“What?! Vitya, are you serious?!”
“I’m serious, Mom. You’re spending our money on toys. I can’t support that anymore.”
“Your wife has turned you against me!”
“No one has turned me against you. I decided this myself. If you need money for groceries, show me the receipt from the store and I’ll transfer that amount. But I won’t just send money anymore.”
“You… you’re betraying me!”
“Mom, I’m not betraying you. I’m setting boundaries.”
“Boundaries?! I’m your mother! I raised you!”
“And I’m grateful to you. But I have my own family now, Mom. My own daughter. And I can’t keep sponsoring your hobby.”
Oksana Gennadyevna shouted something about ingratitude, about how she had worked her whole life and now her children were turning away from her. Vitya listened silently, his teeth clenched. When she finally fell silent, he said quietly:
“Mom, I love you. But this is my decision. I’m sorry.”
And he hung up.
The phone rang again immediately. Vitya declined the call. Then another. And another. He muted the phone and placed it on the table.
“Well done,” Tanya came over and kissed the top of his head. “I know how hard that is.”
“She’s my mother, Tanya. How can I refuse her?”
“You’re not refusing her. You’re just not giving her money for toys. If she really needs help, she’ll ask honestly.”
“She won’t.”
“Then that’s her choice.”
On Monday, Vitya went to work looking darker than a storm cloud. Tanya also felt broken. At work, Svetlana noticed right away.
“Well? Did you uncover your mother-in-law’s secret?”
“We did,” Tanya told her everything.
Svetlana listened, eyes wide.
“Toys? Seriously?”
“As serious as it gets.”
“Wow. And now?”
“We stopped giving her money. Yesterday, Vitya refused her for the first time in his life.”
“How is he?”
“He’s suffering. But he’s holding on.”
“Tanyush, I think you’re doing the right thing. You can’t endlessly sponsor someone else’s hobbies.”
“That’s what I think too. But she’s his mother. It’s hard for him.”
“I understand. But the important thing is that you’re together now. That’s already a victory.”
Tanya nodded. Yes, they were together. For the first time in a long while.
A week passed quietly. Oksana Gennadyevna did not call again. Lena also received no calls from her. She and Vitya exchanged messages — how are things, how do you feel — but not a word about money.
On Saturday, Vitya decided to visit his mother and check on her. Tanya offered to go with him, but he refused.
“I’ll go alone. It’s better that way.”
He returned an hour later, even gloomier.
“How is she?”
“Fine. Alive and healthy. Said she’s managing.”
“And that’s all?”
“Almost. She also said I don’t have to come anymore.”
“What?!”
“She said that if I don’t respect her choice, we have nothing to talk about.”
Tanya hugged her husband.
“Vitya, she’s just offended. She’ll cool down, come to her senses.”
“I don’t know, Tanya. You should have seen her eyes. There was such… anger. As if I had betrayed her.”
“You didn’t betray anyone. You simply chose your family.”
“And she chose her toys.”
They stood embracing in the kitchen, and Tanya felt how tense his body was, how hard he was trying not to cry.
“Everything will be all right,” she stroked his back. “Really. Everything will be all right.”
But she herself did not believe those words.
A month passed. February was coming to an end. Elya had her birthday, and they managed to arrange a small celebration at home with her classmates. Vitya finally bought a new jacket — the old one had completely fallen apart. Tanya set aside money for boots, but decided to wait for a sale.
Oksana Gennadyevna did not call. Vitya visited her once every two weeks to check whether everything was all right. She received him coldly and answered questions in monosyllables. She did not ask for money.
Lena also tried to restore contact, but their mother would not meet her halfway. She answered messages formally; on video calls, she spoke for a minute or two and immediately found a reason to end the conversation.
“She made her choice,” Lena said once over the phone. “Vitya, it hurts me too. But we can’t force her to change. Only she can do that.”
“Maybe she’ll stop?” Vitya still hoped. “Maybe she’ll realize she’s losing us?”
“She won’t. She saw that we were fighting, that you and Tanya were having problems. And she didn’t care. The main thing was to get money for the next purchase.”
“It’s so strange to hear that about your own mother.”
“You know, I’ve been thinking. Maybe she was always like this and we just didn’t notice. Remember how, when we were kids, she was always buying something? New dishes, towels, something else. We always had new, beautiful things. But she wouldn’t let us use them. She’d say, ‘It’s a pity, let them sit there.’”
Vitya thought about it. Yes, that had happened. Tea sets in the cabinet that were never used. Bed linens in packages that were never even opened. His mother would explain, “I’m saving them for a special occasion.” But the special occasion never came.
“So this started a long time ago,” he said slowly. “Toys are just the latest thing.”
“Looks like it.”
That evening, Vitya told Tanya about the conversation. She listened, nodding.
“You know, my grandmother had something similar. She collected beautiful boxes. From candy, cookies, anything. She had an entire room filled with boxes. My mother spent a year sorting through it all after she died.”
“What was it?”
“The doctor said it came from loneliness. My grandmother was left alone after my grandfather died, and the children moved away. So she started collecting. It seemed to her that she was filling the emptiness that way.”
“But my mother isn’t lonely! She has me, Lena!”
“Vitya, when was the last time you simply talked to her? Not about practical things, not about money, but just talked?”
He fell silent. Truly, when? A month ago? Two? They called each other, but always briefly — how are you, is everything all right, that was all. Lena also lived in another city, and they saw each other rarely.
“So she really is lonely,” he said slowly.
“Maybe. But that doesn’t justify her behavior. She could have said that. Asked you to spend more time with her. Instead, she started extracting money.”
“Tanyush, maybe I should try to talk to her? Like a human being? Maybe if I explain that I’m nearby, that I haven’t abandoned her…”
“Try. It definitely won’t make things worse.”
The next day, Saturday, Vitya went to his mother’s again. But this time, he took Elya with him.
“Grandma will be happy you came,” he told his daughter in the car.
“Dad, is it true Grandma is angry at us?”
Vitya looked at her in surprise.
“How do you know?”
“I heard you and Mom talking. And Grandma hasn’t called me in a long time. She used to call every week, but now she doesn’t.”
“We had a little argument. But I hope we’ll make up.”
“Because of money?”
“Elechka, those are adult matters.”
“I’m not little anymore, Dad. I’m eight.”
Vitya smiled.
“Yes, you’re big now.”
Oksana Gennadyevna opened the door and froze when she saw her granddaughter.
“Elechka? You?”
“Hi, Grandma!” Elya rushed to her and hugged her.
Oksana Gennadyevna’s face softened. She held her granddaughter close, and Vitya saw her eyes glisten.
“Come in, come in.”
They drank tea in the kitchen. Elya talked about school, her birthday, her new friend. Oksana Gennadyevna listened, smiled, and asked questions. Vitya stayed silent, watching.
When Elya asked to go to the bathroom, Oksana Gennadyevna turned to her son.
“Why did you bring her?”
“She missed you.”
“And that’s all?”
“And I missed you too, Mom.”
She turned toward the window.
“Don’t, Vitya.”
“Don’t what?”
“Pretend. You decided I’m bad. That I spend your money on nonsense.”
“Mom, I never thought you were bad.”
“But you won’t give me money.”
“I won’t. Because I see that you’re spending it on something you don’t need.”
“And how do you know what I need?”
Vitya took a deep breath.
“Mom, are you lonely?”
She flinched.
“What?”
“Do you feel lonely? Maybe that’s why you buy toys?”
Oksana Gennadyevna abruptly stood up.
“Don’t get into my head!”
“Mom, I’m trying to understand!”
“There’s nothing to understand! I like toys, so I buy them. That’s all!”
“But why so many? Why a whole room?”
“Why do people collect cars? Or dishes? Or books? I collect toys! They’re beautiful! They make me happy!”
“And we don’t make you happy?”
She fell silent. Vitya stepped closer.
“Mom, tell me honestly. When was the last time you were happy? Truly happy — not because you bought a new doll, but just because?”
Oksana Gennadyevna sank onto a chair and covered her face with her hands.
“I don’t remember,” she said quietly. “A long time ago. A very long time ago.”
“Maybe because you’ve worked your whole life? Home, work, home, work. When was the last time you went somewhere? To the cinema, the theater, to see friends?”
“No time.”
“But there’s time for toys.”
She looked up at him, her eyes full of tears.
“They don’t ask anything in return. I come home, look at them, and I feel calm. They don’t judge, don’t ask questions, don’t demand explanations. They just stand there and make me happy.”
Vitya crouched down in front of her and took her hands.
“Mom, I’m not judging you. Truly. I just want you to be happy. Really happy. And toys aren’t happiness. They’re a substitute.”
“I can’t live without them,” she whispered. “I tried. I didn’t buy anything for a week. And I felt so bad. So empty inside. As if something were missing.”
“Mom, you need help. Real help.”
“I’m not sick!”
“I’m not saying you’re sick. But you have an addiction. And something has to be done about it.”
Oksana Gennadyevna pulled her hands away and turned aside.
“Leave, Vitya.”
“Mom…”
“I said leave! And take Elya with you!”
Elya came out of the bathroom right then, heard the last words, and looked at her father in fear.
“Grandma, what’s wrong?” she ran up to Oksana Gennadyevna. “We only just got here!”
“Elechka, sweetheart,” Oksana stroked her granddaughter’s head. “Grandma needs to rest. Come another time.”
“But…”
“Elyusha, let’s go,” Vitya took his daughter’s hand. “Grandma is tired.”
They left the apartment. Elya was silent the whole way, then asked quietly:
“Dad, is Grandma not going to see us anymore?”
“She will, of course she will,” Vitya was not sure of his own words, but tried to sound convincing. “It’s just hard for her right now.”
“Because of the toys?”
Vitya almost swerved off the road.
“How do you know about the toys?!”
“I saw them. When I went to the bathroom, the door to the room was slightly open. There were so many dolls! And construction sets! Does Grandma collect them?”
“Yes, she collects them.”
“Can I take one?”
“No, Elyusha. It’s Grandma’s collection.”
“But why so many? She doesn’t play with them.”
“She doesn’t. She just looks at them.”
“Strange,” Elya said thoughtfully. “Nastya from my class has a mom who collects magnets. But she puts them on the fridge and shows everyone. Grandma hides hers.”
“Yes, she hides them.”
“That’s sad, Dad.”
“What’s sad?”
“That she has so many beautiful toys, but she doesn’t play with them. And she doesn’t show them to anyone. Toys are supposed to bring joy. But like that, they just stand there.”
Vitya was silent. The child had said what he himself could not put into words. Toys were supposed to bring joy. But Oksana hid them, afraid someone would see. Afraid someone would judge her.
At home, Tanya met them with anxiety in her eyes.
“How did it go?”
“Badly,” Vitya sank onto the sofa. “She threw me out.”
“Completely?”
“Almost. She told me to leave and take Elya with me.”
“Vityush,” Tanya sat beside him and hugged him. “You did everything you could.”
“She’s unhappy, Tanya. I realized that. She buys those toys because she has nothing else to fill the emptiness with. Work, home, work, home. No friends, no interests except those purchases.”
“And did you offer her help?”
“I did. She refused. She says she’s not sick.”
“Then there’s nothing we can do. It’s her choice.”
“So she’s choosing toys instead of us.”
“Yes. It seems so.”
Vitya closed his eyes.
“It hurts so much to hear that.”
“I know.”
They sat embracing, and Elka came over and hugged them both at once.
“Mom, Dad, don’t be sad. Grandma is just confused. She’ll figure it out.”
“Where did you get so wise?” Tanya kissed the top of her daughter’s head.
“From you,” Elka smiled.
Two more weeks passed. March had arrived, the snow had begun to melt, and the air smelled of spring. Vitya continued visiting his mother once a week, but she received him more and more coldly. Their conversations lasted five minutes, no more. Lena also could not break through the icy wall.
“She has made her choice,” Lena said during another phone conversation. “Vityush, it hurts me too. But we can’t force her to change. Only she can do that.”
“And if she doesn’t want to?”
“Then we live on. You did everything you could. You offered help, explained that you were ready to be there for her. The rest doesn’t depend on you.”
At the end of March, on the last Saturday of the month, Vitya tried one last time to talk to his mother. He came without warning and knocked on the door. Oksana Gennadyevna opened it, saw him, and sighed.
“You again.”
“Mom, I want to talk.”
“We have nothing to talk about.”
“Mom, please. One last time.”
She reluctantly let him in. They sat in the kitchen. Vitya took a long time choosing his words.
“Mom, I don’t want to lose you.”
“Then don’t interfere in my life.”
“I’m not interfering. I just can’t give you money for something I believe is wrong.”
“Wrong? Who are you to decide what is right and what is wrong?”
“I’m your son. And I see that you’re unhappy.”
“I am happy! I have my toys, my job, my apartment!”
“But you don’t have us.”
Oksana Gennadyevna fell silent. Then she said quietly:
“You abandoned me yourselves.”
“We didn’t abandon you. We just want you to be honest with us.”
“I am honest!”
“No, Mom. You were extracting money from us under false pretenses. That isn’t honest.”
“I wasn’t extracting anything! I really didn’t have enough!”
“Enough for toys, yes. But for life, you have more than enough.”
She stood up and went to the window.
“Leave, Vitya.”
“Mom…”
“Leave. And don’t come back if you aren’t ready to accept me as I am.”
Vitya slowly stood up.
“I am ready to accept you. But I’m not ready to sponsor your addiction. If you ever need real help, call me. I’ll always be there.”
He went out and closed the door behind him. Oksana Gennadyevna remained standing by the window, looking at the melting snow in the courtyard.
At home, Tanya was waiting for him with dinner ready.
“Well?”
“That’s it. The end. She told me not to come if I wasn’t ready to accept her as she is.”
“And what did you say?”
“That I was ready to accept her, but not to sponsor her addiction.”
Tanya hugged him.
“You did the right thing.”
“It doesn’t feel right. It feels like I lost my mother.”
“You didn’t lose her. Right now, she has simply chosen her path. Maybe someday she’ll realize what she lost.”
“Or maybe she won’t.”
“Or maybe she won’t.”
They sat together in the kitchen, holding hands. Outside the window, the snow was melting, promising the coming of spring. Somewhere on the other side of the city, Oksana Gennadyevna stood in a room lined with toys and stared at them with empty eyes.
She did not call again. Not Vitya, not Lena. Vitya came once a month to check that she was all right. She opened the door, answered questions briefly, and closed it again. New toys continued appearing in the room. Oksana was not afraid of being alone. She had simply chosen her obsession over her relationships with her children.
Tanya and Vitya gradually rebuilt their life. They saved money, made plans, raised Elya. Sometimes it was hard for Vitya; he would look at photos of his mother and sigh. But Tanya was beside him, hugging him, telling him everything would be all right.
And Oksana Gennadyevna continued working as a cashier, coming home, buying new toys, and arranging them on the shelves. Lonely, stubborn, satisfied with her choice. Her children called on holidays, briefly congratulated her, and the conversations lasted a minute or two. Their relationship remained strained, formal, cold.
No one won in this story. Everyone simply made their own choice and stayed with it.
