Did you really manage to use that much hot water again?”
Victoria had not even had time to take off her shoes. She stood frozen in the hallway, holding two unbearably heavy shopping bags. The rigid plastic handles dug painfully into her fingers, leaving red marks. The bags contained almost a week’s worth of groceries: chicken, potatoes, fresh vegetables, several packages of grains, and other food. Her arms were already beginning to go numb from the weight.
Stanislav had met his wife right at the entrance. Leaning one shoulder against the doorframe, he waved the utility bill that had just arrived. In his other hand, he held a smartphone with the calculator open on the screen.
“What excessive use are you talking about, Stas?”
Victoria finally set the heavy bags down on the linoleum and flexed her numb fingers several times.
“The usual kind.”
Stanislav brought the bill closer and pointed to one of the lines as though he had uncovered a serious financial scheme.
“I’ve calculated everything. We used quite a lot of electricity this month, and our hot-water consumption was completely unreasonable. So I think it would be fair to split the utility bill seventy-thirty from now on. And we’ll keep using the same arrangement in the future.”
Victoria silently removed her boots, took off her jacket, and carefully hung it on a hook.
Throughout all fifteen years of their marriage, the couple had split their utility expenses equally. Over time, and without much discussion, their shared family budget had essentially become two separate budgets. After their son left to study, only the two of them remained in the apartment.
Even so, Victoria bought nearly all the groceries. Stanislav paid for the internet, filled up his own car, and once a month, with an air of great importance, transferred to his wife half the amount shown on the utility bill.
About a year earlier, however, forty-four-year-old Stanislav had developed a new passion: multiplayer computer games.
His midlife crisis had manifested itself in a rather unusual way. He had not begun chasing younger women or shopping for a sports car. Instead, Stanislav spent a substantial portion of his savings on a powerful desktop computer, an enormous curved monitor, and a brightly illuminated keyboard. He transformed the small spare room into his private gaming sanctuary, installed a special chair there, and from then on spent almost every evening at his computer until late at night.
About a month earlier, he had come up with another new idea. He began talking about strict economizing, responsible spending, and the complete separation of their finances.
“Seventy-thirty?” Victoria repeated.
She picked up the bags again and carried them into the kitchen. Stanislav immediately followed her, still holding the bill.
“Exactly,” he confirmed firmly.
He watched closely as Victoria unpacked the groceries and placed them on the table: a large package of chicken fillets, butter, and a dozen eggs.
“Let’s take an honest look at the situation, Vika. Who fills the bathtub with bubbles every day? You do. Who constantly runs the washing machine just for her blouses and uses the delicate cycle? You again.”
“Doesn’t it bother you that I wash your clothes together with mine?”
Victoria placed the package of chicken in the freezer.
“I could wear the same pair of jeans for an entire week.”
Stanislav leaned against the table and watched his wife working near the sink with a slightly superior expression.
“I hardly need anything to live comfortably. I’m a man, and my needs are modest: soap and a towel—that’s practically all. But you have an entire collection of little bottles, a hairdryer, and styling tools. So you obviously consume far more resources. That’s an undeniable fact, and there’s no point arguing about it.”
“So, in your opinion, washing yourself and wearing clean clothes are unnecessary luxuries now?”
Victoria picked up a sponge and absentmindedly began wiping the tablecloth, even though it was already perfectly clean.
“If we’re being practical, Vika, you should pay for your own wants. I work myself to death, and I’d like to be able to afford something for myself too. Right now, I need to save for a new virtual-reality headset. It’s an important purchase for me. But our shared money keeps disappearing because you don’t know how to economize.”
“Our shared money?”
Victoria tossed the sponge into the sink and turned sharply toward her husband.
“Stas, you didn’t even lift a finger to help me carry those bags. Look at the table: meat, cheese, vegetables—I just bought all of that with my own money. Yesterday, you ate pork chops. I paid for those too. Are they also nothing but my personal indulgences?”
“Food is a basic human necessity,” Stanislav replied calmly, lightly tapping the smartphone against his palm. He straightened his sweatshirt and stood taller.
“The body needs food as fuel, especially when a person works. But using water for thirty minutes is entirely different. You can turn off the faucet while you soap yourself. There’s no need to leave the hallway light on either. In short, I’ll transfer thirty percent of the utility bill to you. You’ll pay the rest. And in the future, I suggest you pay closer attention to your spending.”
Stanislav gave a satisfied smirk, tossed the bill onto the edge of the kitchen table, and went to his room.
Less than a minute later, the familiar noises emerged from behind the closed door: rapid mouse clicks, muffled gunfire from the game, and loud curses that her husband generously shared with his teammates over voice chat.
Victoria rinsed her hands, shook the droplets from her fingers, and sat down on a chair.
The utility bill that had inspired her husband’s entire lecture on saving money still lay in front of her. The electricity charge really was substantial. Compared with the period before Stanislav had purchased his expensive gaming equipment, their electricity costs had increased by almost fifty percent.
Victoria stood and approached the wall separating the kitchen from her husband’s room. Even from there, she could clearly hear the continuous low hum of the computer’s powerful cooling fans.
She remembered how, about six months earlier, Stanislav had proudly shown his new computer to a neighbor who had stopped by.
“It’s an absolute beast!” Stas had said admiringly, tapping the transparent side panel of the computer case. “A thousand-watt power supply with a platinum rating! It has power to spare and can run any game at maximum settings!”
Now those words suddenly took on an entirely different meaning for Victoria.
She took out her smartphone, opened the browser, and began searching for information about high-performance gaming computers, thousand-watt power supplies, dual monitors, and powerful cooling systems.
Technology websites and forums quickly produced some rather interesting calculations. It turned out that the entire machine, glowing with multicolored lights, could consume as much electricity as a powerful oil-filled space heater operating at a high setting. Considering that Stanislav spent six to eight hours at his computer every day and could play almost the entire day on weekends, the figures were significant.
They were certainly far higher than the consumption of Victoria’s washing machine and the hairdryer she used for no more than five minutes each morning.
Victoria stepped out onto the landing. The building was an old prefabricated apartment block, so the electrical meters were located not inside the apartments but in a shared distribution panel in the vestibule.
She opened the metal door and looked at their meter. The red indicator was blinking so rapidly that it was almost impossible to distinguish the individual flashes. The light appeared to be glowing continuously. While Stanislav was heroically battling virtual enemies, electricity was being consumed at an impressive rate.
Victoria closed the panel and returned home.
“Stas!”
She opened the door to his room slightly.
A wave of heat immediately rushed out. The operating equipment had made the small room almost unbearably stuffy. Stanislav sat in his gaming chair with a massive headset over his ears, his eyes darting between two monitors.
Victoria touched his shoulder.
Her husband irritably pulled one earcup aside.
“What do you want? I’m in the middle of a raid!”
“I looked carefully at the bill,” Victoria said calmly. “Then I did some calculations. Your computer uses more electricity than practically the entire rest of the apartment.”
“Nonsense!” Stanislav snapped dismissively without even turning his head.
His fingers continued rapidly striking the keys.
“Modern equipment is energy-efficient! You don’t understand anything about this stuff, so stay out of things you know nothing about. I’ve already said I’m paying thirty percent. And close the door when you leave! You’re letting in a draft!”
Stanislav put the earcup back in place and immersed himself completely in the game once more. Victoria watched her husband for several seconds.
There was no point arguing any further.
She quietly closed the door, put on her jacket and autumn boots, and left the apartment again.
A fine, cold rain was falling outside. The hardware store, located in the basement of a neighboring apartment building, was about a ten-minute walk away.
Inside, it smelled of dampness, rubber, and machine oil. Behind the counter, an elderly salesman in a blue work coat was slowly sorting through small nuts and bolts.
“I need a padlock,” Victoria said without any introduction. “The strongest one you have, with a thick shackle.”
The salesman immediately became more animated and brought out several models.
“Then I recommend this one. It’s a heavy-duty lock. Cast-iron body and a hardened shackle. Very reliable. What are you planning to lock up—a country house?”
“I’m keeping out people who waste resources,” Victoria replied curtly.
She paid, slipped the heavy lock into her pocket, and headed home.
When Victoria returned, shouting was still coming from Stanislav’s room. Judging by the commotion, an extremely critical moment had arrived in the virtual world.
“Heal me! Heal me, I said! We’re going to wipe the entire raid!” Stas yelled into his microphone so loudly that the glass in the door trembled slightly.
The battle was in full swing.
Without saying anything, Victoria turned around and went back into the vestibule.
The metal door of the electrical panel opened with an unpleasant creak. Inside was the smell of heated insulation and old dust.
She located the circuit breakers controlling the electricity in their apartment. One plastic switch had been labeled in uneven black marker:
“Room 2.”
Victoria stared at the inscription for a moment and placed her finger on the switch.
Click.
The gaming sounds behind the wall stopped instantly.
An almost unfamiliar silence descended. The computer’s fans gave a short electronic chirp and fell silent. Victoria closed the panel door. Then she took out the padlock she had purchased, threaded its thick shackle through the long-unused loops covered in several layers of old paint, and snapped it shut.
The key went into her pocket.
Victoria had barely returned to the hallway when the door to Stanislav’s room flew open and he rushed out.
“Vika! My electricity went out!”
He came running with his eyes wide, holding his headset in one hand. Beads of sweat had appeared on his forehead.
“There’s power everywhere else in the apartment, but my room is dead! I was fighting the boss!”
“How unfortunate,” his wife said with perfect calm.
“What do you mean, ‘unfortunate’? Did the breaker trip? Did you turn on the kettle and washing machine at the same time again? I told you not to do that!”
Stanislav rushed toward the front door, flung it open, and ran out onto the landing. Almost immediately, Victoria heard an indignant shout. Metal rattled several times, followed by the dull sound of a palm striking the panel door.
“What the hell is this?! Where did this lock come from?”
Stanislav returned.
His sweatpants were stretched at the knees, his T-shirt was wrinkled, and his hair was disheveled. It was difficult to recognize him as the sensible expert on household finances who had recently explained to his wife why they needed to cut expenses.
“Have you completely lost your mind? Give me the key immediately!”
“No.”
Victoria calmly leaned one shoulder against the doorframe.
“What do you mean, no? My entire team was wiped out! Do you understand that I let everyone down? They’re going to kick me out of the clan!”
“Are you supposed to be fearless or immortal, Stas?”
She did not look away.
“So it’s acceptable for you to interrogate me over hot water and laundry detergent and calculate every tiny expense connected with my blouses, while your gaming equipment consumes nearly as much electricity as an industrial facility?”
“That’s completely different!” Stanislav exploded immediately.
He waved the headset angrily.
“It’s my hobby! I need some way to relax after a hard day at work!”
“No, darling. It’s exactly the same thing.”
Victoria walked toward the kitchen.
Stanislav reluctantly followed her.
“You have a thousand-watt power supply connected to two monitors, and all of it runs for several hours every evening. I specifically looked it up, Stas. In one month, your computer uses more electricity than my washing machine does in several months.”
“That’s ridiculous!” her husband protested, although his voice no longer carried the same confidence.
“You suggested that we divide our resource expenses fairly, didn’t you? Wonderful. I completely agree with your idea of optimizing the family budget.”
Victoria sat down at the table. The utility bill was still lying in front of her.
“So from now on, the electricity in your room will operate on a prepaid basis.”
“What prepaid basis? Are you out of your mind?”
“The usual kind. If you want to continue playing, transfer half of the utility expenses to me. Exactly half, just as we’ve done for all fifteen years of our marriage. Everything calculated precisely, down to the last cent. And you’ll also pay half the cost of the food filling the refrigerator.”
“I’ll smash that lock off with a crowbar right now!” Stanislav shouted, turning toward the storage closet where they kept the tools.
“Go ahead,” Victoria permitted calmly. “But after that, I’ll switch off the router, and tomorrow I’ll take the internet cable to work with me. Then you can admire your powerful computer without an internet connection. And don’t doubt me, Stas—I’m stubborn enough to do it.”
Her husband stopped.
For several seconds, he looked first at Victoria and then toward the dark hallway leading to his powerless gaming room.
Time was passing. His clanmates were surely already cursing the player who had suddenly disappeared at the most critical moment.
“You’re going too far, Vika. This is blackmail.”
“No. This is economic practicality. I’ve simply started calculating expenses, Stas. That’s exactly what you wanted me to do.”
Victoria took out her phone, placed it faceup in front of her, and looked meaningfully at the screen.
“I’m waiting for the transfer.”
Stanislav swore under his breath. His ears had turned noticeably red.
He took out his smartphone, opened his banking app, and began angrily tapping the screen.
A minute later, Victoria’s phone emitted a short notification sound.
The money had arrived.
Stanislav had transferred exactly half the utility bill and added another three thousand for groceries.
Victoria took the heavy key from her pocket and placed it on the kitchen tablecloth.
Her husband instantly grabbed it and hurried out onto the landing to restore power to his room.
After that, the subject of separate budgets was never raised again.
Life gradually returned to normal. Stanislav continued playing games in the evenings, while Victoria kept buying groceries and peacefully enjoying her bubble baths.
A month later, another electricity bill arrived.
This time, without any discussion, Stanislav transferred exactly half the amount to his wife, down to the last cent.
However, he then made a point of going to the store, buying a package of the cheapest sausages, and placing it on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.
After all, a person’s character cannot be changed in a single evening.
