My Dowry Dog Said My Phone Gift Was Suicide

My sister-in-law had gotten into a top-tier high school, so I'd bought her a domestic phone, five thousand and change, to give her as a congratulations gift.

The golden retriever I'd brought over as part of my dowry suddenly went wild and clamped down on my pant leg.

Mom! Whatever you do, don't give it to her! In your last life it was because of that phone that she hated you for the rest of your days!

Your mother-in-law is a real Monday-morning quarterback! The second you pull it out, she'll say she was going to buy her youngest daughter the newest iPhone. And since you gave a gift, she won't bother now!

Don't believe me? Just watch!

Sure enough, the moment Brenda Acevedo saw me lift the phone box out of my bag, she started in with her needling tone.

"Oh my, is that a phone you got for Denise Sawyer? And here I was, planning to buy her the newest iPhone. Well, since you've already gotten her one"

A chill ran down my spine. I shoved the phone straight back into my bag and cut her off with a smile.

"Mom, you've got it wrong. This is one I bought for myself. My old phone lags something awful, and I caught a good deal."

"Besides, this one's domestic. How could it possibly be good enough for our family's star student?"

As I said it, I turned and pulled out a red string that had come free with the phone, and slipped it around Denise's wrist.

"There. That's the gift I got for Denise."

Denise looked down at that cheap red string, and the corner of her mouth twitched.

"Sis, I got into the city's top high school, and you give me a scrap of string?"

I smiled.

"This is a protective red string, blessed by a master. I waited in line for hours to get it."

Then I turned to Brenda. "Mom, didn't you just say you were going to buy Denise the newest iPhone? When are you two going?"

Denise's eyes lit up in an instant. "Mom, you're really buying me an iPhone?"

Brenda froze, then stammered, "Thatyou must have heard me wrong."

Calm as anything, I opened my photo app. "Mom, I recorded it just now. Everyone here heard you say it."

I'd meant to capture the look on my sister-in-law's face when she got her gift. Instead of a surprise, what I caught was proof of Brenda's empty promise.

The second aunt, there for the celebration dinner, jumped right in. "I'll vouch for it, sis. You really did say it"

The third uncle laughed and egged her on. "Exactly. We've got a top-high-school student in the family. What's an iPhone?"

Brenda's face went red. She tried to change the subject, but Denise's mouth curled down and her eyes went red-rimmed.

"Mom! Don't tell me you're going back on your word!"

"Of course not" Brenda ground the words out through her back teeth.

I twisted the knife, all helpfulness. "Then let's go tomorrow. Students get an education discount, fifteen percent off, and while you're at it, take a look at a tablet, a laptop, all of it!"

Brenda shot me a vicious glare and said nothing.

Denise took the silence for a yes, cheered, and threw herself at Brenda, wrapping both arms around her. "Mom! I knew you loved me best!"

Then she twisted around and rolled her eyes at me. "Not like some people, all show and no substance, just trying to fob me off!"

I smiled and let it go.

After the dinner ended, the golden retriever circled me, tail going like mad.

Mom! Nicely done!

Last life, after you gave that phone, your mother-in-law put on the same act. Said she'd meant to buy the iPhone, and only decided not to because you'd already given one.

And once Denise started high school, everyone else had an iPhone and she was the only one with a domestic phone. She was ashamed for three whole years!

Her grades tanked, and she pinned every bit of it on you. Blamed you for the domestic phone, for making her lose face in front of her classmates, said that was what wrecked her studies. An absolute ingrate!

I sucked in a cold breath, and the dowry dog kept going.

Worse than that, once Denise got into college, you pinched every penny to send her eighteen hundred a month for living costs. But the moment she graduated and landed a good job, she blocked you outright!

Later you were diagnosed with stomach cancer, and when you asked her to lend you money for the surgery, she shoved you straight down a stairwell!

She said if you hadn't given her that piece-of-junk phone, her mom would have bought her the iPhone, and she wouldn't have been mocked for three years. And if you hadn't been so stingy, only giving her eighteen hundred, her mom would have made it three thousand, and she wouldn't have had to deliver takeout on the side and get cursed at for it!

Last life, after you took your last breath, your mother-in-law rushed over, wiping her eyes and cursing you the whole time. Said you'd dragged her daughter down, that if you'd just been generous enough to buy an iPhone back then, would things ever have come to this?

The golden retriever pushed his head into my arms.

Mom! This time around, stop being the sucker who pays for everyone!

Your own phone only cost two thousand and change. From now on, whatever you won't buy for yourself, don't buy for anyone else!

Otherwise Grandma and Grandpa, and me too, will all be sick over it!

I hugged him and nodded, pulled out the new phone, and got ready to peel the screen film off and use it myself.

The next second, my husband, Clyde Sawyer, came charging over, grabbing for the new phone.

"Cheryl Swanson, have you lost your mind! Buying yourself a phone this expensive! Return it right now!"

I twisted aside, and he grabbed at empty air.

"I'm spending my own money. Is there a problem?"

Clyde's face darkened. "Once we're married, we're one family. The mortgage isn't even paid off. Every cent you spend, you clear with me first!"

Phil nudged his head into my palm again.

Mom! This scumbag is running a mind game on you!

In your last life, after you died, he didn't just refuse to speak up for you. He signed the letter of forgiveness himself! Your grandma and grandpa collapsed overnight from the shock, and he turned right around and used his son-in-law status to swallow your family's estate whole!

Phil's voice caught for a moment.

Last life, when Grandpa passed, he kept saying your name to the very end. Grandma ended up alone in a nursing home, her pension card in Clyde's grip, having to ask him even for medicine money.

I clenched the phone, my knuckles white.

Clyde was still going. "What's the point of buying that cheap phone? Waste of money! You'd be better off with a secondhand iPhone. Cheaper, and it looks like something"

I ignored him and tore the seal off the phone box.

"What are you doing!"

"It's unsealed now. Can't be returned."

Clyde went ashen. He looked ready to say more, then swallowed it back down.

"Fine, you bought it, you bought it. But when we get home, we do it the usual way. Don't you dare give me away!"

It wasn't until we stepped through the door that I understood what the usual way meant.

Brenda grabbed my hand and threw me a frantic look.

"Cheryl's back! Come, come, everyone's been waiting on you!"

"Tell Denise yourself. It's not that I won't buy it for her, it's that you, the older woman marrying her brother, wouldn't allow it!"

Denise sat curled up on the couch, eyes red, glaring at me.

Clyde circled around behind me and chimed in. "Your wife runs the money in this house. She said no, so Mom's hands are tied."

Then he shot me a quick wink.

I knew that look too well.

Every time Denise wanted designer shoes or some sky-priced tutoring program, Brenda didn't want to pay and didn't want to offend her daughter.

So she'd push me out front as the target and say it was me, the woman who married into the family, refusing to allow it.

Phil, my dowry dog, told me that last life I'd scrimped and saved to give Denise eight hundred a month for living expenses.

And Brenda had still made snide remarks about it, saying she'd meant to give three thousand.

But her pension was only a bit over two thousand. She could never have afforded it.

And yet Denise's hatred landed squarely, fully, on me.

This life, I would not be the scapegoat again.

I walked over to Denise and took her hand.

"Denise, getting into a top-tier high school is huge. What's one phone next to that?"

"Other kids' parents throw in the whole iPhone setup plus travel money on top. All our Denise wants is one phone. That's already so reasonable of her."

Denise's eyes lit up in an instant.

"You mean it?"

"Of course." I turned to Brenda. "Mom, take Denise out tomorrow and buy it. Nothing matters more than the girl being happy."

Brenda's lips trembled a couple of times. She dropped the act entirely.

"Cheryl, what's gotten into you? A phone that costs over ten thousand, that's several months of my pension. Denise is in high school, she should have her mind on her studies, not on chasing vanity with a phone that expensive!"

Clyde lost it too. "Cheryl, is your head full of water? Blowing five thousand on a phone for yourself wasn't enough, now you want to lead Denise astray?"

I put on my most innocent face. "Mom, weren't you the one who said you'd buy Denise an iPhone? So how come now buying an iPhone is vanity?"

"Or was it just an empty promise you made to string Denise along from the start?"

The smile on Denise Sawyer's face froze, tears welling up.

Brenda panicked. "Your sister-in-law is talking nonsense! When did I ever say I wouldn't buy it?"

I threw up my hands at once. "Mom, my mistake, I misread you. So you never went back on your word after all."

The air went quiet for three seconds.

Brenda drew a deep breath. "Fine! We'll go buy it tomorrow!"

Denise burst into tears and threw herself at Brenda, hugging her. "Mom, I love you to death! I knew it, you're not the kind of person who breaks a promise!"

Brenda held her, the corner of her mouth twitching.

But I knew she'd never bring herself to shell out that kind of money.

Sure enough, the next day at the Apple store, Brenda suddenly pulled me aside and lowered her voice.

"Cheryl, Mom left in such a hurry I forgot my card. Front the money for me first, and I'll transfer it back to you when we get home."

I almost laughed out loud.

Forgot her card? Who'd believe that?

I spread my hands, all helpless. "Mom, I just moved my money into a fixed deposit. I've only got a little over five hundred left in my account, and the mortgage is due in a week. I really can't free up the cash. Why don't you run home and grab it?"

Brenda's face stiffened.

"Go home for what? That's two hours there and back"

"Then we can just come back next week. School doesn't start for a while anyway."

Brenda's mouth twitched a couple of times. Before she could get a word out, Denise's delighted squeal came from behind the counter.

"Mom! I want this one, the one-terabyte top model!"

The clerk quoted it with a smile. "Hi there, this one's fifteen hundred ninety-nine."

Brenda's face went white.

"That expensive?!"

Denise's smile crumpled in an instant. "Mom! You promised me! Are you backing out?"

Brenda's lips were trembling. "Mom's not backing out... I just didn't think it'd cost this much..."

"What's so expensive about it? All my classmates have this one! You're always saying how much you love me, and in the end you won't even spring for a phone that costs a little over a thousand? If you can't afford to raise a kid, don't have one!"

The clerk's smile froze on her face, and everyone in the store turned to look.

I stood off to the side and said nothing, watching the show in peace.

I wanted to see just how Brenda was going to keep this act going.

Right then, Brenda's phone rang.

She answered and listened for a few seconds. "What? Harold Abbott had a stroke? Which hospital? I'll be right there!"

She hung up and grabbed Denise by the arm. "Denise, let's go, something's happened to your dad!"

Denise dragged her feet, but she got hauled off to the hospital all the same.

The doctor said he needed surgery right away, with a two-thousand deposit.

Brenda handed over her bank card on the spot.

Three hours later, Harold was wheeled into the ICU.

Brenda slumped onto the bench, then finally dug a dusty old basic phone out of her bag and held it out to Denise.

"Denise, this is Mom's old phone. Use it for now."

Denise glanced down at it and didn't take it.

"I don't want it."

"It's just a phone! Your dad's lying in the ICU right now! You want a phone, or you want your dad?"

Denise bit her lip, her eyes going red.

Brenda suddenly turned her head toward me, changing tack.

"Cheryl, and then there's you, her sister-in-law. When other families' little sisters get into a good high school, the sister-in-law gives a gift. And you? You fobbed her off with a red string bracelet? Your salary's not low either. How can you be this stingy?"

"Before school starts, you'd better make up for Denise's gift!"

Denise looked up at me too, expectation in her eyes.

Great. Dumped the blame on me again.

Lucky for me, I'd come prepared.

"Mom, who said I didn't bring a gift?"

I pulled a glittery phone case out of my bag.

"Denise, back when Mom said she'd buy you an iPhone, I went ahead and got a matching case for it. Who knew things would go the way they did? Guess you won't be needing this after all."

Brenda gave a sniff. Denise kept her head down and said nothing.

I was about to turn toward the water cooler to fill a cup when she suddenly caught up and grabbed my arm.

"Cheryl, that day at the dinner the new phone in your bagwas that meant for me?"

I stopped, and deliberately let her hope.

"It was. But then Mom said she'd buy you an iPhone, and I was afraid if I gave you mine she'd back out, so I just kept it for myself."

Denise was quiet for a few seconds. "Then now she didn't buy me an iPhone, so that phonecould you give it to me instead?"

I smiled.

"But I've already been using it. And it's just a cheap phone. Aren't you worried your classmates will laugh at you?"

Denise's eyes lit up.

"Why would they? Sure, it's not an iPhone, but it still cost five thousand. That's practically high-end!"

Last time around, she'd turned up her nose at the cheap phone I gave her.

This time, she was begging me for my used, secondhand cheap phone.

Keep dreaming.

I sighed, my face full of reluctance.

"Denise, this is my only phone. If I give it to you, what am I supposed to use?"

Denise pressed her lips into a thin line.

"And besides"

I lowered my voice and glanced toward Brenda.

"If Mom finds out you're not using the phone she gave you and using mine instead, she'll be sure I'm trying to drive a wedge between the two of you. Then we'll have another blowup on our hands"

The light in Denise's eyes dimmed by half.

I added, "Though if you really want an iPhone, it's not like there's no way."

Her head snapped up. "What way?"

"Go get a job. You're a smart girl."

Denise bit her lip. "But I'm still young nobody would hire me"

I slapped my forehead, all rueful. "That's my fault. Forgot about that."

The little flame of hope guttered out again.

I patted her shoulder. "Don't worry. Once I save up a bit more, I'll buy you one down the road. For now, just focus on school."

"But I can't wait." Her voice went thick. "If I bring an old basic phone to school, everyone will laugh me to death. There are so many rich kids at a top high school"

I was about to answer when Phil suddenly came trotting up from the far end of the hallway, a piece of paper in his mouth.

I looked down. It was a colorful flyer, a line of bold type across the top:

Payday LoansZero Interest, Instant Cash! We'll solve your money troubles!

I frowned, snatched up the flyer, crumpled it, and shoved it into the trash.

"People like this have no shame anymore. Zero interest? Who are they kidding? Denise, don't you ever fall for it."

Denise gave a small "mm." "I know"

I said a couple more words, then turned and headed for the water cooler.

Phil trailed at my feet. After seven or eight steps, he turned his head and glanced back.

I followed his gaze. Denise was crouched beside the trash can, quickly fishing the flyer back out, folding it a few times and tucking it into her pocket.

I looked away. My phone buzzed.

A message from Denise: "Cheryl, that payday loan on the flyerreally, you can't borrow from them?"

I stared at the screen for a couple of seconds, then let the corner of my mouth curve up and replied, "No. It's all a scam."

Denise didn't reply again.

But I knew she wouldn't listen.