«Either empty your pockets, or I’m calling the police!»
Lidiya Andreevna slammed her heavy hand down on the tablecloth.
The teacup jumped and clinked against the edge of the sugar bowl.
Nadezhda froze, a half-eaten piece of pie paused halfway to her mouth. Her husband, Maksim, immediately hunched his head into his shoulders.
He stared into his empty plate, pretending the whole situation had nothing to do with him.
«Nothing to celebrate here!» the mother-in-law declared, breathing heavily. «At this table sits a thief. A real, shameless thief!»
Tatyana didn’t even raise an eyebrow. She sat on a regular kitchen chair by the sideboard, hands resting on her knees.
Ilya scowled and pushed his plate of jam away from him.
«Mom, are you out of your mind?» he asked hollowly. «We gathered to discuss the cottage payments. The road in our garden community washed out, and the chairman is collecting money. What’s theft got to do with it?»
«It’s got everything to do with it, Ilyusha!» his mother shouted, her voice rising to a shriek. «While you break your back at the construction site working shifts, your dear wife is hauling everything out of the house!»
She cleared out all my funeral savings from the bedroom! Every last kopeck!
Nadezhda carefully put her bitten pie back down. A greedy spark flashed in her sister-in-law’s eyes.
«Well, that’s a twist,» Nadezhda said, pressing her lips together. «Tanya, do you even have a conscience?»
«We were wondering where you got that new wool coat last week. So that’s it! Buying fancy things with someone else’s money, are you?»
«Nadya, be quiet,» Ilya cut his sister off. He turned to his mother. «What savings? What are you even talking about?»
«My hard-earned savings!» Lidiya Andreevna jabbed her crooked finger toward her daughter-in-law. «She showed up here on Thursday! Claimed she needed to grab your ventilation plans from the nightstand!»
I went to the bakery for ten minutes. I came back—there were your plans in a clear folder left on top of the nightstand, but darling Tanya was already gone without a trace!»
The mother-in-law grabbed her chest dramatically, wrinkling the collar of her knit sweater.
«Yesterday I went into the wardrobe to get a clean duvet cover. And what do I see—the candy tin is slightly open! And inside—empty! A nice sum of money gone!»
That was everything I saved up bit by bit from my pension over the past three years! I was keeping it for a rainy day, for a tombstone for myself and your father!»
Tatyana met her mother-in-law’s fiery gaze without a hint of embarrassment.
After seven years of marriage to Ilya, she had learned all of Lidiya Andreevna’s tricks inside and out.
Her mother-in-law truly believed the eldest son was supposed to support all the relatives, right down to the seventh generation.
Tatyana’s job as an estimator seemed to her husband’s mother like a meaningless pastime at the computer. Any big purchase the young family made was met with poisonous sighs.
«Lidiya Andreevna, did you really think things through before you made these accusations?» Tatyana asked quietly.
«Now I need to think, too?!» the apartment owner erupted, rising to her full height. «Only you and Ilyusha have keys to the lock!»
My son has never taken a single ruble from his own mother! I’m telling you, turn your pockets out!
Either empty everything from your purse and your pockets right now, or I’ll call the police in front of the neighbors! Let them file a report!
Ilya stood up right after his mother. His shoulders tensed beneath his flannel shirt.
«Stop yelling so loud for the whole stairwell to hear,» he demanded firmly.
«I won’t stop!» his mother shrieked, pressing her hands to her cheeks. «Let Nadya and Maksim see who you’ve let into this house!»
Let her return everything back! And if she already spent it—you’ll pay it all out of your own wages! Are you my son or some stray man off the street?!
Tatyana slowly reached into the side pocket of her jacket. She pulled out a piece of thick paper, folded in half.
No folders, no paperclips. Just an ordinary cash receipt with a round purple stamp from a commercial office.
«Were you searching for this receipt all over the apartment, Lidiya Andreyevna?» her daughter-in-law asked.
Tatyana placed the paper in the center of the table, right next to the little candy dish.
Her mother-in-law stopped mid-sentence. Her hand jerked toward the paper, but then hung frozen in the air.
«And where did you get that from?» she mumbled, her arrogance slipping away.
«It’s a payment document from the fast loan office by the market,» Tatyana explained. «The transaction took place on Thursday, exactly at ten in the morning.»
Nadezhda immediately craned her neck over the table.
«Ilyusha, take a look—what is that? What does the paper say?» her sister-in-law piped up.
Ilya picked up the receipt between two fingers. He carefully read the fine printed details. The crease between his brows deepened.
«Full early repayment of the microloan,» Ilya read out in an even voice. «A hefty sum paid in cash. Payer—Fomina Lidiya Andreyevna. Borrower—Fomin Anton Sergeyevich.»
Suddenly, the kitchen fell silent. The only sound was the neighbors’ TV playing through the wall.
Maksim, standing by the sideboard, blinked in fright and pressed himself even harder against his chair’s backrest.
Lidiya Andreyevna rushed over to her son, trying to snatch the receipt from his hands.
«Give it back right now! It’s none of your business! That’s someone else’s paper, it’s old!»
«Thursday, ten in the morning,» Ilya repeated. His face darkened. «But Tanya only came by for the blueprints nearly at six in the evening. After her workday ended at the design office.»
Her husband lowered his hand holding the receipt to the edge of the table. He stared his mother down, unblinking.
«Did you give it to Anton?» he asked. «Once again to your favorite youngest? The one who’s been lying around on the couch for half a year, piling up debts everywhere?»
Lidiya Andreyevna realized there was no use denying it. The pleading look on her face instantly shifted to open malice.
«Yes, to Anton!» she blurted out, slamming her fist on the table. «They ruined his door with paint!»
There were thugs in the stairwell lying in wait! They threatened to break his fingers! I’m his mother, I had to save my own child!»
«And you thought you had to falsely accuse my wife too?» Ilya asked harshly.
«You won’t go broke!» his mother spat out, spraying saliva in her fury. «Look at you, just raking in the money! Writing up budgets, earning bonuses! No kids, no mortgage!»
You could’ve helped your own mother without all this scolding! It wouldn’t have killed you to make up for the loss! You’re so stingy with your own mother!»
At that moment, Nadezhda suddenly jumped to her feet, her face red with hurt.
«Hold on, Mom,» Nadezhda started, her voice squeaking. «So you gave Anton every last bit of your savings? Paid off all his drinking and partying debts?!»
Lidiya Andreyevna was stunned by her daughter’s sudden rebellion.
«None of your business, Nadya! My brother was in trouble!»
«Oh, not my business?» his daughter shouted, stepping toward her mother over the table. «And when Maxim and I asked you for help last month, just for some materials for our summer house fence?»
We asked for a loan, even promised to pay it back by autumn! And what did you say? That you had nothing but plain buckwheat to eat and not a single extra penny until your pension!»
«Quiet, you ungrateful child!» her mother barked. «He’s the youngest! It’s harder for him to get by!»
«Of course!» Nadya replied with a bitter laugh. «It’s so hard for him to lift his head after a hangover!»
Meanwhile, my Maxim’s breaking his back working two jobs without days off! And Ilya basically lives at the workshop! You’ve got it all figured out, haven’t you, Mama!»
Maxim gently tugged at his furious wife’s sweater hem.
«Nadya, that’s enough, let’s go. Don’t get involved.»
«Let go of me!» his sister-in-law snapped, waving him off. «I’ve kept quiet my whole life! Mom, you drained the life out of all the older ones just to cover for little Antosha!»
And once again, you blamed the daughter-in-law so Ilya would cough up all his money!»
Meanwhile, Tatyana stood up from her chair. She had no intention of taking part in this circus of mutual grievances.
Her mother-in-law’s scheme was painfully obvious.
Take the last bit of money to cover the slacker’s debts, then stage a dramatic episode and call the police so the shamed, silent older son would have to pay it all back from his salary.
«Where did you get this receipt?» Lidiya Andreyevna glared at Tatyana with hatred. «Were you snooping through my things?»
«You dropped it yourself on Thursday,» Tatyana replied. «When Ilya gave you a ride to the pharmacy after work.»
The slip got stuck under the front seat mat. Ilya vacuumed the car yesterday evening and found it.»
Her mother-in-law ground her teeth together.
«So you grabbed it right away? Were you waiting for a chance just to shame me?»
«We’re simply not going to let ourselves be made fools of,» Tatyana replied calmly.
She turned toward the doorway.
Ilya took his phone out of his pocket. He tapped the screen and showed his mother an incoming message.
«Anton sent me this at eight this morning,» the son said quietly. «He wrote: ‘Bro, send me a little more by evening, Mom only covered half the loan, the interest’s piling up.'»
So stop making up stories about theft, Mom.
Ilya tossed the receipt right into the pie plate.
«This conversation is over. Figure out the summer house payments yourselves.»
«Ilyushenka, wait!» his mother rushed after her son, tripping over the hem of her wide house skirt. «Are you really going to abandon your own mother in her old age for some other woman?!»
I’ve lost sleep for you! I ruined my health for you! Sit down at the table when I tell you!»
Ilya didn’t even slow down.
They stepped into the hallway. Tatyana took her jacket off the wall hook and wrapped her scarf around her neck. Her husband silently put on his shoes.
From the kitchen came Nadya’s furious yells, cabinet doors slamming, and their mother-in-law’s tearful laments about ungrateful children.
The front door clicked shut behind them.
The stairwell smelled of stale dust and damp basement air. Ilya sighed loudly and leaned his head against the cold wall by the elevator.
«Sorry, Tanya,» he said, staring at his feet. «I shouldn’t have dragged you here. I thought we could actually talk about the summer house like normal people.»
“None of this is your fault,” Tatiana replied, zipping up her jacket. “But at least now everything finally makes sense.”
A little over two months went by.
When the dacha season rolled around, Lidia Andreevna reached out herself. She called her eldest son on a Saturday morning.
On the other end of the line, her voice was cheerful and businesslike, as if there had never been any accusations of theft or a humiliating family scandal.
“Ilyusha, hello my dear boy!” his mother chirped sweetly. “The veranda at the dacha is practically falling apart. Antosha had a look at it the other day, and says the beams are rotten.”
Could you send some money for planks and timber? Your brother is struggling with work again. You know how it is, the crisis in the country.”
Ilya held the phone to his ear in silence for exactly fifteen seconds. Then he silently pressed the red hang-up button.
A minute later, he opened his mobile banking app and transferred a precisely fixed sum to his mother’s pension account with a short note: “For medicine.”
He had already deleted his younger brother’s contact from his phone back in April.
As for Tatiana, she simply put her mother-in-law’s number on the blocked list and never set foot in that apartment again.
