They Forced Me to Fall, I Made Them Pay

1: 1

My mother had been diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer, and the hospital had already stopped treatment.

The moment I got the call, I had the driver take me, my wife, and my son back home through the night to see her one last time.

But when we got there, my wife sat clutching our son and refused to get out of the car.

"That broken-down road in front of your house you knew I was coming, and you couldn't even lay down a red carpet?"

Then, while I stared in disbelief, she started zipping our four-year-old son into a hazmat suit.

"Protective measures are a must. I won't have him catching something off these penniless people!"

She finished, then tossed a big bottle of high-concentration alcohol at me.

"Here. Disinfect all those poor relatives of yours. If even one of them isn't properly sterilized, none of them come near me!"

My father reached out and took it, smiling carefully, apologetically.

"Sabina has a thing about germs, it's only right, only right!"

And he moved to start spraying the alcohol on himself.

I stopped him at once and fixed my eyes on my wife, Sabina Fox.

"My mother is barely hanging on, waiting to see us one last time. Are you getting out of this car or not?"

Sabina folded her arms, her whole posture cold and aloof.

"No!"

"Last time your mother mailed us that cured ham, John ate it and was throwing up and running to the bathroom for days. If I get out now and catch some germ off her, I could end up dead!"

John was Sabina's male best friend.

My father stooped low, trying to smooth things over.

"City folks are particular about these things. Disinfecting's no big deal, we'll just do as she says"

But I threw out an arm and stopped him.

"There's no need!"

"Let's get divorced!"

The engine had been off for half an hour now.

My wife, Sabina, sat holding our son and refused to budge.

I had just sent the divorce request to my lawyer.

Then Uncle Gerald came over to push me.

"Michael Henson, what are you doing? Your mother's almost gone. Her last wish is to see her grandson. Take Jayden Acevedo in to her, quick!"

I pressed my lips together and reached out toward my four-year-old son in the car.

"Come on, get out with Daddy and go see Grandma!"

The boy didn't move. He turned his head and glanced at Sabina.

Asking for her permission.

Sabina circled an arm around his shoulders.

"You've got the suit on, sure, but there are so many people in that house, and not one of them has been disinfected. What if you catch something? You're not going!"

The boy tucked himself into her arms and didn't dare move.

He was afraid of her.

My father gave my back a reproachful push.

"What's the matter with you, boy? Why quibble over so much at a time like this?"

"Disinfecting's not a bad thing. Dad'll do it himself!"

My father took the bottle of alcohol and hurried back into the house.

Twenty minutes later he came back, soaked in sweat, and said, "Besides the relatives, I've sprayed down every last corner. Now can you get out?"

Sabina's gaze fell on the nearly empty alcohol bottle, and only then did she grudgingly take our son by the hand and step down from the car.

The house was crowded with people.

All the relatives had come.

My mother lay on the bed, my cousin Kayla Abbott keeping watch beside her.

"Jayden"

At the sight of the boy, my mother, holding on to her last breath, reached out a hand toward him.

The boy started forward, and Sabina yanked him back.

"That's enough. Whatever you want to say, say it from here. Don't pass your sickness to the child!"

She wouldn't even let him through the doorway.

She only allowed him to stand outside the door and watch from a distance.

Kayla's eyes were red, and she glared at Sabina in fury.

Sabina, unbothered, patted at her hair with a lazy air.

"Jayden, this is for you, from Grandma. Something to remember me by."

My mother opened a small cloth bundle and took out a little silver lock.

She had melted down the bracelet she'd worn for twenty years and had it made especially.

The boy started forward again, but Sabina blocked him and let out a scornful little snort.

"That's it?"

"How much can a silver thing be worth? Just like I said poor people stay poor their whole lives!"

2: 2

On the hospital bed, my mother froze.

Her hands shook like a sieve.

Beside her, my father stood there too, his face burning with humiliation, jaw clenched, taking it.

We hadn't had much money back then.

My father farmed the land. My mother sold vegetables at market.

But even so, they never let me go hungry, never let me wear rags, and they put me through college all the way.

This silver lock was the only thing my mother had left worth giving.

Jayden, let Mommy tell you something. Never take anything from poor people, because a poor person's money is their whole life.

Sabina crouched down beside our son and said it low, as if she were keeping her voice down.

But everyone in the room heard it.

Your daddy may have made something of himself, but that dirt-poor stink is in your grandparents' bones. They'll never scrub it out as long as they live.

Your grandmother especially. She's about to die, and all she's got to leave you is this one broken silver lock.

She said it for my mother to hear.

My mother's eyes trembled. She lifted a hand and wiped the tears from the corners.

It's my fault I didn't think it through. But your father and I never managed to save anything our whole lives. This really is the last bit of my heart I have to give

And then she covered her mouth and started coughing, hard.

The truth was, it wasn't that my parents never saved anything.

It was that every cent they saved had gone to pay for Sabina's treatment.

My junior year of college, Sabina was diagnosed with kidney disease and lay in that hospital with no one.

Her parents made excuses about being too busy with work to come. I was the one who stayed by her side.

The doctor kept coming to press us about the bills.

She said she didn't want to be treated anymore. I hid in the stairwell and called my parents, crying.

When they understood the situation, they went quiet for a long moment, then told me, firm:

Treat her.

Never mind that she's your girlfriend. Even if she were only your classmate, a girl in a spot that pitiful, if we can help her we help her.

The next day, four hundred thousand landed in my account.

Half a lifetime of my parents' savings.

And it was that money that pulled Sabina back from the edge of death.

My parents didn't want her carrying the guilt, so they wouldn't let me tell her where the money had come from.

Tell her and you put the poor girl over a fire. If she ever stops loving you and wants to break it off, she won't dare.

She never asked us for it. We did this because we wanted to. You can't use this money to hold a girl's whole life hostage.

It all came flooding back.

My chest felt heavy as stone.

My mother was coughing so violently that I couldn't stop myself. I rushed over and patted her back.

Uncle Gerald's oldest grandson held out a cut slice of watermelon to my son.

It's hot. Have some watermelon, it'll cool you off.

My son reached out and took it. The next second Sabina shrieked and slapped it out of his hands.

Don't eat that!

It'll give you diarrhea!

As she said it, she tore open a disinfecting wipe and carefully cleaned our son's hands.

At the same time, she cut a disgusted look at Uncle Gerald's oldest grandson.

Look how filthy he is, all over. Who knows how many germs he's carrying. Don't play with him.

Uncle Gerald stepped forward and pulled the frightened boy behind him.

It's one thing to look down on us. Do you really have to treat a child this way?

Michael, we only came to your family's home because your mother is ill. Since we're so unwelcome, we'll go.

But your mother doesn't have much time left. I hope you won't leave her with regrets.

And with that, he took his grandson by the hand and left.

I was about to go after them when my mother gripped my arm and held on:

Son, I'll stay away from Jayden. Help me fasten this silver lock on him for me.

3: 3

I carried the silver lock over to Jayden.

I asked him quietly,

"Jayden, Grandma made this for you. Do you like it?"

Jayden's eyes went bright, and he nodded hard. "I like it!"

I unfastened the clasp and reached to put it around his neck.

But Sabina yanked him back.

"Silver? Even a dog wouldn't wear that."

"What century do you think this is? You want my son wearing junk like that, so his classmates can laugh at him?"

"Mom, let's be honest. The first time I met you, weren't you wearing a gold bracelet on your wrist?"

"What, you're dying and you still can't bear to part with the gold bracelet? Saving it to take into the grave?"

A flicker of unease crossed my mother's face.

"That that was"

She couldn't get the words out.

Sabina took in every bit of her expression.

She folded her arms and gave a cold laugh.

"You won't leave the gold bracelet to your own grandson, just a cheap little silver lock. The way I see it, you don't love him much at all!"

"In that case, Jayden, we're leaving!"

And with that, she grabbed her son by the hand to go.

"Don't! Please!"

My father hurried to stop her.

"Your mother's gold bracelet was sold off a long time ago. Look, I've still got a little money here, you take it. Just let Jayden stay a while with his grandmother!"

As he spoke, my father fished out a card and pressed it into Sabina's hand.

"There's two hundred thousand in here. It's all the money Michael sent us over the years. We couldn't bring ourselves to spend it, so we've been saving it for him!"

I thought that would make Sabina happy.

Instead she gripped the card and rounded on me, her face full of fury.

"Michael, are your parents bloodsuckers? You've got a wife, a kid, your own family now, and they're still clinging to your back, sucking you dry?"

My cousin couldn't stand it anymore.

"What kind of thing is that to say?"

"So marrying someone means cutting all ties with your own parents?"

"Besides, my uncle and aunt paid to put your husband through college. Now that he's made something of himself, shouldn't he pay them back?"

Sabina shot her a glance.

"What would a girl like you understand?"

"Giving birth is appetite. Raising is duty. Lifting a child up in life, that's the only real kindness!"

"Did your uncle and aunt ever lift your husband up? And you come talk to me about paying back. What nerve!"

"You" My cousin was so angry her face and neck flushed red.

My face darkened, my fists clenched tight.

Sabina glanced at me, then made her concession.

"All right, here's the deal. You want me and my son to stay, fine."

"Sign this document to sever family ties! We'll let it slide this time, but from now on, any of you relatives has a birth, a death, an illness, a wedding, a funeral, whatever, none of you is allowed to tell us!"

My cousin took the document and brought it over so the relatives could read it together.

The longer they read, the more their faces changed.

My cousin stepped forward, hesitating.

"Fine, forget about the rest of us. But my uncle can't even come to you if something happens?"

Sabina folded her arms, chin high with contempt.

"We live in Baytown. Coming back here takes two hours. That's pretty far."

As she said it, her eyes raked my father from head to toe.

"And your uncle here isn't exactly clean, is he? Look at his hands, the dirt under his nails. And those clothes, mud spattered all over them"

"My own parents are wealthy, important people. My mother runs an art studio and teaches painting herself, and my father works at a state utility company, makes over twenty thousand a month."

"I really don't want them knowing I've got in-laws like this. It's too embarrassing!"

4: 4

Uncle Walter couldn't help muttering under his breath.

"So rich, huh? Then how come when you were sick, they wouldn't part with a single dollar?"

The truth was, Sabina wasn't my in-laws' biological daughter.

They'd been married for years without a child, and they'd fallen for some folk cure, the kind that said you had to adopt a girl first, as a lucky charm, before you could have one of your own.

So they went to the orphanage and took Sabina in.

Whether the folk cure worked or not, nobody knew, but two years after adopting Sabina, my mother-in-law did get pregnant, and gave birth to their only son.

If they hadn't been afraid of what people would say, the two of them would have sent Sabina straight back to the orphanage.

Later, when Sabina got sick, they simply vanished.

Their money was for their own son. They wouldn't spend a cent of it on Sabina.

And yet, somehow, Sabina couldn't see it, and even took a certain pride in what her adoptive parents did for a living.

"What did you say?"

Sabina hadn't caught what Uncle Walter said.

He was about to say it louder when my father hurried to stop him.

"All right, all right, I'll sign. Dad won't embarrass you!"

And he picked up the pen, his hand trembling, ready to sign that document severing family ties.

My mother pressed a hand over her mouth, her eyes rimmed red.

She had barely any strength left, and could only look at me in despair.

"Son, your father's health is bad. Even if you can't come back to see him, remember to call him now and then."

"Otherwise I won't be able to rest easy when I go"

My father had worn himself out for me his whole life, and my mother had seen all of it.

She couldn't stop worrying about him, because once she was gone, he'd have no one left.

I was just about to take my mother's hand and tell her not to worry when Sabina immediately objected.

"No!"

"Michael's too soft!"

"If he calls his dad all the time, and his dad starts crying to him about how hard things are, it'll just make things worse between us!"

Then she turned that sharp look on me.

"Michael, don't you dare agree with your mother!"

"Don't forget, when we got married, you said our own little family came first!"

The relatives all looked at me, waiting to see which way I'd go.

My father kept his head down, his hand still shaking over the paper.

My mother held on to her last breath, her eyes fixed on me in worry.

I stood up, snatched the estrangement document out of my father's hand, and tore it to shreds,

then, under everyone's startled eyes, I walked step by step over to Sabina, raised my hand, and slapped her across the face.

"Crack!"

The clean sound of it rang through the whole room.

Sabina clutched her cheek and glared at me with hate.

"Michael, have you lost your mind?"

"You think I won't divorce you?"

I let out a cold laugh. "Divorce, then. Whoever backs out is the coward!"

"You"

The pride cracked on Sabina's face, and out of nowhere a wave of panic swept over her.