The Daughter Who Lay Flat for Thirteen Years

You're a grown woman in your thirties, lying around the house all day. How long do you expect us to support you?!

Carrie pointed at her daughter playing video games on the sofa, trembling with anger.

Without even lifting her eyes, her daughter Eileen said, So what if I live off you? What job out there pays more than ten grand a month?

Thirteen years. Watching her husband and younger son scrimp and save for Eileen's sake, Carrie finally gave up for good.

That very night she took her husband and youngest son on a trip and blocked her daughter completely.

Three months later, Carrie pushed open the door to her home, and the sight inside made her crumple straight to the floor.

On the third day of the New Year holiday, Carrie's living room was packed with relatives, sunflower seed shells scattered all over the floor.

The lively New Year's variety special was playing on the TV, but nobody was in the mood to watch it.

Everyone's eyes kept drifting, on purpose or not, toward the shut door of the master bedroom.

"Carrie, Eileen's got to be thirty-five this year, hasn't she?" Aunt Marjorie spat out a seed shell and raised her voice.

Carrie sat on the edge of the sofa, wringing her hands awkwardly, and gave a dry little laugh.

"Yeah, thirty-five. She'll be thirty-six once the New Year passes." Carrie's voice was so faint it was like a mosquito's whine.

"She's not getting any younger. What's the sense in her cooped up in that room all day?" Uncle Harold tapped his pipe and said with a frown.

"Young people these days can't count on their parents to keep them their whole lives, can they? Even if she doesn't get married, she ought to at least find a job."

Just then the master bedroom door creaked open.

Eileen came out in a pilled coral-fleece pajama set, shuffling in slippers, her hair a messy bird's nest.

Ignoring all the elders in the room, she walked straight to the coffee table, grabbed a handful of pistachios, and stuffed them in her mouth.

"Aunt Marjorie, Uncle Harold, it's the New Year, don't you two get tired of this?" Eileen rolled her eyes and muttered as she chewed.

"Always nagging me to get a job. Does a job make you rich? Three thousand a month isn't even enough to cover my medical bills."

Aunt Marjorie's eyebrows shot up at that. "Eileen, what kind of talk is that? Three thousand is still money!"

"Go out, do some work, get some contact with the world. Isn't that better than lying around the house all day? Your mother works as a supermarket cleaner, on her feet more than ten hours a day. Doesn't it break your heart to see that?"

Eileen curled her lip and spat the shells onto the coffee table.

"That's her choosing to suffer! I've said it before, it's all a rat race out there, and the bosses are just bloodsuckers."

"Going to work means being a workhorse. I call it protecting my health, something you old folks just don't get."

Carrie's face went red, then pale as she listened, wishing she could sink into a crack in the floor.

"Eileen, how can you talk to your elders like that? Get back in your room!" Carrie scolded in a low voice.

"Why should I go back in? This is my home!" Eileen plopped down on the sofa and crossed her legs.

Right then the security door opened, and Carrie's nephew Zion walked in carrying two boxes of high-end gifts.

Zion was in his early thirties and ran a small building-materials company; among the relatives, he was the most successful of the lot.

"Oh, Zion's here! Sit, sit!" The relatives greeted him warmly at once.

Aunt Marjorie's eyes darted around, and she quickly grabbed Zion's arm.

"Zion, you're a big boss now. Are you short-handed at the company? Why not take your cousin Eileen on to do some work?"

Zion glanced at Eileen, sitting on the sofa picking at her nails, and gave an awkward smile.

"Aunt Marjorie, I'm in building-materials sales. I'm out at job sites every day, it's tough work. Could Eileen really handle that kind of hardship?"

"She can! Of course she can!" Carrie said, as if grasping at a lifeline, and hurried over.

"Zion, just put her in any clerical spot, answering the phones, typing up documents, that's all. Pay her whatever you think, even just meals would be fine!"

Zion scratched his head and gave a reluctant nod.

"All right then, Aunt. After the New Year, have Eileen come to my company as an office clerk. I'll pay her a salary of $4,500 a month, weekends off."

Hearing that, the relatives praised Zion for being decent and for the good deal he was offering.

Carrie was so moved that tears nearly fell, and she quickly nudged Eileen.

"Eileen, hurry up and thank your cousin! This is a job you couldn't find even with a lantern to look for it!"

Eileen didn't even lift her eyes, and let out a cold laugh.

"I'm not going."

The moment those three words came out, the living room went silent.

Zion's smile froze on his face, and Carrie stamped her foot in frustration.

"Have you lost your mind! Why won't you take such a good deal?" Carrie demanded loudly.

"Forty-five hundred and you think you can buy off my freedom? Zion's company is on the Southside. I'd have to change buses twice to get there, and get up at seven every morning!"

Eileen shot back, full of righteous indignation, her face all scorn.

"Besides, if I go work at his company, won't I be at his mercy? He's a few years younger than me. Why should I let him boss me around?"

"I'm not going! Whoever wants to go can go! Don't insult me with a lousy job like that!"

With that, Eileen stood up, brushed the crumbs off her hands, and swaggered back to her bedroom.

The door slammed shut with a bang.

The living room was dead silent. Carrie looked at the contemptuous, pitying eyes of the relatives, tears swimming in her own.

All she could do was keep bowing to Zion and apologizing, saying "I'm sorry" over and over.

Just after the sixth day of the New Year holiday, Carrie Lambert hurried back to work at the supermarket.

While everyone else was still visiting relatives and friends, she had to be up before dawn and out late scrubbing floors, because there were still two mouths at home waiting to be fed.

Her husband, Kenneth, was a plain, honest security guard who didn't make much either, and the two of them still had their younger son, Toby, to put through middle school.

That afternoon, while Carrie was mopping the floor at the supermarket, a wave of dizziness hit her all at once.

She touched her foreheadit was frighteningly hot. She coughed several times in a row, her throat feeling like she'd swallowed a razor blade.

"Carrie, you don't look right. Have you come down with a fever?" the supervisor asked, coming over with concern.

"It's nothing. I probably caught a chill yesterday. I'll just have some hot water." Carrie forced a smile through it.

"Don't push yourself. You're getting on in years. Go on home and rest for half the dayI'll sign off on the leave for you." The supervisor waved a hand.

Carrie thanked her over and over, took the leave, and dragged her heavy feet toward home.

The whole way, she felt chilled to the bone, an ache in every joint.

She told herself that once she got home she could have some hot soup and lie down for a while, and she'd be fine.

She pushed open the door, and a strong smell of spicy snail noodle soup hit her in the face.

The coffee table in the living room was piled with takeout boxes and empty drink bottles, and there were a few wads of tissue thrown on the floor.

Eileen was curled up on the couch, headphones on, yelling at her phone screen.

"Go in! Heal me! Are you blind or what?!"

Looking at the wreck of the room, Carrie felt exhaustion wash over her in an instant.

"Eileen, honey, Mom's sick, I've got a high fever. Could you get Mom a glass of hot water?" Carrie said weakly, holding on to the door frame.

Eileen's eyes stayed glued to the screen, her fingers tapping frantically.

"Ugh, if you're sick then go take some medicine! What's the point of telling me? I'm not a doctor!"

Carrie's heart sank. Fighting off the dizziness, she walked over to the water cooler herself and filled a glass.

"I need to rest at home for a few days. Could you tidy up the living room? Throw out the takeout boxes?" Carrie swallowed the pills and tried to reason with her daughter.

"Later! Can't you see I'm in the middle of a team fight? You're driving me crazy!" Eileen shouted, utterly annoyed.

Looking at this thirty-five-year-old daughter of hers, thinking back over the bitter thirteen years she'd endured, Carrie couldn't hold back her tears any longer.

"Eileen! Are you dead or something?!" Carrie suddenly exploded, slamming the glass down hard on the table.

"I've supported you for thirteen whole years since you graduated! You've never worked a single day!"

"I come home with a high fever, and not only won't you pour me a glass of water, you won't even clean up the placejust how long are you planning to freeload in this house?!"

Eileen jumped at the sudden roar, and her game character died on the screen.

She yanked off her headphones and glared furiously at Carrie.

"What's gotten into you?! It's just being sickdo you have to make such a scene?"

"You take grief from people out there all day, and all you know how to do is come home and take it out on me!"

Carrie was shaking with anger, and she pointed her finger right in Eileen's face.

"Who am I scrubbing floors for? Isn't it to raise you, you ungrateful brat!"

"Look at the state of yourselfyou're barely even a person anymore! Have you got no shame?"

"Me, no shame? I say you're the one killing yourself over your precious pride!" Eileen leapt up, giving no ground, jabbing a finger back at Carrie.

"You elders keep pressuring me to find a jobit's not for my sake at all!"

"You're just afraid the relatives and friends will laugh! Afraid people will laugh at you! All you care about is your own pride!"

"So I never amount to anything, so I live off my parentswhat business is it of anyone else's! If I annoy you so much, you shouldn't have had me in the first place!"

Hearing these outrageous, unforgivable words, Carrie felt a violent, wrenching pain in her chest, so bad she couldn't catch her breath.

"You... you..."

Carrie clutched her chest with both hands, her face gone bluish-purple.

"Don't play dead with me! I've seen this poor-me act plenty of times!" Eileen snorted coldly and turned to go back to her room.

Carrie tried to cry out, but no sound came. Her vision went black, and she toppled straight down onto the cold living room floor.

There was a muffled thud.

Eileen glanced backand instead of going to help her, she irritably kicked the takeout box next to her.

"What a faker! I couldn't be bothered with you!"

Just then the security door opened, and Kenneth, just off work, and Toby, just home from school, walked in.

Seeing Carrie lying unconscious on the floor, Kenneth was so terrified he dropped the groceries in his hands.

"Carrie! What happened to you!" Kenneth rushed over and scooped her up into his arms.

"Quick! Toby, call 911! Hurry, save your mom!" Kenneth shouted into the apartment, sweat pouring down his forehead.

By the time Carrie opened her eyes again, it was already night.

The sharp smell of disinfectant brought her partway back to her senses.

Beside the hospital bed, Kenneth stood holding a long stack of billing slips, his brow knotted as he counted the crumpled bills in his wallet.

Toby lay slumped against the edge of the bed, his eyes red and swollen from crying.

Carrie looked around the empty wardthe one person missing was that biological daughter she had raised for thirty-five years.

Her heart was completely dead.

"Carrie, you're awake?" Kenneth saw Carrie open her eyes, quickly stuffed the loose change back into his pocket, and came closer.

"The doctor said it was stress on top of a bad cold, and it almost turned into myocarditis. You have to take care of yourself and stop getting worked up."

Carrie looked at her husband's weathered face, and then at Toby's sneakers, the soles already coming unglued.

Kenneth was just a security guard. To stretch the family budget, he wouldn't even spring for a decent pack of cigarettes.

Toby was still growing, but he'd never been bought a single decent brand-name piece of clothing.

The three of them scrimped and saved, all to squeeze out enough money to cover the internet bills and buy snacks for the princess at home who did nothing but play video games and order takeout.

"Kenneth, in the few hours I've been sick, did Eileen call?" Carrie asked, her voice hoarse.

The muscles in Kenneth's face twitched, his eyes darted away, and it was a long moment before he sighed.

"No. I called her, and she hung up on me right away."

Carrie closed her eyes, and two lines of clear tears slid down from the corners.

For thirteen years, she'd always believed that if she just worked a little harder, her daughter would one day grow up and understand a mother's heart.

Only now did she finally see it clearly: mud is just mud, and it will never hold to the wall.

"Kenneth, go get my bag." Carrie suddenly opened her eyes, her voice carrying a resolve she'd never shown before.

Not understanding, Kenneth handed her the canvas bag.

Carrie pulled a tightly wrapped bank card out of a hidden compartment in the bag.

"There's 0-000,000 on this card. It's the savings I clawed together little by little over the years, up before dawn and working late at the supermarket."

Kenneth was startled. "Carrie, what are you doing with that money? That's the money we saved for Eileen!"

"Not anymore!" Carrie gritted her teeth and sat up straight.

"Kenneth, Toby, go book the plane tickets. We're going to Miami Beach, to Colorado, we're going on a trip!"

"This money, we're spending on ourselves! I'm going to live for myself for once!"

Kenneth and Toby were both stunned, thinking the fever had gone to her head.

"Mom, then... then what about my sister?" Toby asked timidly.

"She's thirty-five, she's got two hands and two feet, she won't starve! From today on, we pretend she doesn't exist!"

Carrie picked up her phone, opened her messages, and found Eileen's picture.

Without the slightest hesitation, her finger tapped delete, and then she moved that number into the block list in her contacts.

When it was done, Carrie felt the heavy stone that had pressed on her chest for thirteen years suddenly lift away.

Three days later, once Carrie was feeling a little better, the three of them boarded a plane to Miami Beach.

It was the first time Kenneth and Toby had ever flown, and they were so nervous their palms were sweating.

Once they reached Miami Beach, Carrie booked a high-end hotel right on the water.

She pushed open the door, looked out at the deep blue sea and the palm trees, and took a deep breath of the salt-tinged air.

"Come on, let's go have a seafood feast!" Carrie waved her hand.

At the seafood stalls, Kenneth's hands trembled as he looked at the prices on the menu.

"Good grief, one lobster costs over three hundred dollars? Think how much pork that could buy!"

Kenneth quietly tugged at Carrie's sleeve. "Carrie, let's just get some fried noodles. We need to keep this money for when we're back home getting by."

"Eileen's home alone, she can't even cook. Don't let her go hungry and get sick..."

"Enough!" The moment she heard that name, Carrie's face darkened.

"Kenneth, don't you get it yet? This is exactly the problem, we spoiled her too much!"

"We are having this lobster today, that's final! Toby, order whatever you want, Mom's paying!"

Toby looked at the crabs scrabbling around in the tank, swallowed hard, but still shook his head, sensible as ever.

"Mom, I'm not hungry, a bowl of noodles is fine for me."

Looking at the two of them, father and son, Carrie felt her heart twist like it was being cut with a knife.

For the sake of that ungrateful girl, she had driven her husband and youngest son to this, to where they felt guilty even spending money.

"Sir, give me the biggest rock lobster you've got, two pounds of mantis shrimp, and a steamed grouper too!"

Carrie shouted at the waiter, her eyes red.

That night, the three of them ate until they were stuffed.

As Kenneth gnawed on a lobster leg, tears dripped down and fell into his plate.

"Carrie, this is the first time in my whole life I've ever eaten anything this good."

Carrie raised her glass and clinked it against her husband's.

"Kenneth, from now on, we live for ourselves. These three months, we're going to make up for every good thing we never got to enjoy!"

The days of travel flew by; in the blink of an eye, a month had passed.

They flew from Miami Beach to Sedona, then took a train from Sedona to Aspen.

Every day, Carrie would put on a bright floral dress and sunglasses and pose at the scenic spots while Kenneth took her picture.

Her complexion grew rosier and rosier, her illness completely gone, and she smiled from ear to ear every day.

No more alarm clock hounding her like a curse, no more endless housework.

And no more of that parasite who yelled at her all day and held out her hand for money.

This was the kind of life a human being was meant to live.

But late at night, when everything was quiet and Kenneth and Toby were fast asleep...

Lying on the unfamiliar hotel bed, Carrie would still reach instinctively for her phone.

A mother and daughter are of one heart; no matter how much she hated her, the girl was still flesh of her own flesh.

She had blocked Eileen on her messaging app and her calls, but there was still a filtered text inbox on her phone.

Over the past month, that inbox had piled up with hundreds of unread texts.

Carrie hesitated for a long time, but in the end she couldn't help tapping that red blocked-message icon.

The first few texts were from the days right after they left.

Mom, where'd you go? Why'd you delete me? Send me $500 right now, I want to order takeout.

Are you actually sick or what? Get back here and cook!

Between the lines there was nothing but self-righteous bossiness, not a shred of concern for her mother's illness.

Carrie let out a cold laugh and kept scrolling.

By the tenth day, the content of the texts started to change.

Mom, the power's out! Why didn't you pay the electric bill?! My phone's almost dead!

Mom, I was wrong, I was wrong. Please just pick up, okay? I don't have any money for food.

I can't get through to Uncle Kenneth either. Where did you all go? Are you really not going to look after me?

By the twentieth day, the texts were growing more and more desperate.

Carrie stared at the words on the screen, the hand holding the phone trembling slightly.

She could picture that pampered princess, who'd never lifted a finger in her life, starving in a pitch-black apartment and gnawing on dry instant ramen.

Her heart still clenched despite herself.

"Carrie, you looking at your phone again?"

At some point Kenneth had woken up. He'd thrown a jacket over his shoulders and was sitting on the edge of the bed.

He leaned over to glance at the texts on the screen and heaved a heavy sigh.

"A grown woman in her thirties, and it's come to selling the microwave to buy instant ramen... what a sad mess."

Kenneth hesitated a moment, then said quietly, "How about... I use someone else's phone and wire her $500? Just so she doesn't actually starve herself into some real trouble."

Carrie took a deep breath, abruptly locked the phone screen, and tossed it aside.

"Not a single cent gets sent!" Carrie said through gritted teeth.

"Kenneth, if you go soft on her and give her money now, this whole month of ours will have been for nothing!"

"She's thirty-five, not five! When she's hungry enough, she'll figure out on her own to go find work!"

"Even if she ends up picking through trash, that's her own doing! We can't keep ruining her whole life!"

Carrie pulled the blanket up over her head and forced herself to stop thinking about it.

Early the next morning, Carrie acted as if nothing had happened and put on a careful, polished face of makeup.

"Let's go! Today we're climbing Snowcrest Peak! Nobody's allowed to bring up anything that'll spoil the mood!"

She grabbed Kenneth and Toby and dove headlong into the happy crowd.

She had to steel herself and cut, once and for all, this poisonous umbilical cord that had bound her for thirty-five years.

Three months is neither a long time nor a short one.

By the time their 0-000,000 in savings was nearly gone, the family of three boarded a train home.

On the high-speed train back, Kenneth and Toby scrolled excitedly through the photos on their phones, discussing which scenery had been the most beautiful and which barbecue the best.

"Mom, next time, once we've saved up enough money, can we go to the capital and see the National Mall?" Toby tugged at Carrie's arm, his face full of anticipation.

"Sure! As long as Toby studies hard, Mom will take you all over the country!" Carrie smiled and patted her son's head.

But as the train drew closer and closer to home, the mood in the car gradually began to change.

The chattering that had filled the cabin slowly died down, until at last it sank into complete silence.

All three of them knew in their hearts that what waited for them was a hard fight they couldn't avoid.

Toby sat by the window, looking out at the familiar buildings, and suddenly spoke up in a small voice.

"Mom... next time we go on a trip, could we... could we bring my sister?"

Carrie's smile froze on her face, and she didn't know how to answer.

In those three months, she hadn't looked at the intercepted texts even once.

She had no idea how Eileen was doing now.

Had she gone gaunt and sallow from hunger, or had she already sold off everything in the house?

Or maybe she'd finally come to her senses and gone out to find a job washing dishes or waiting tables?

"Toby, don't worry about grown-up business." Kenneth patted Toby's shoulder, then turned to look at Carrie.

"Carrie, whatever it's like when we open that door, you've got to hold it together."

Carrie nodded silently, but her palms were slick with nervous sweat.

Off the high-speed train, they caught a cab back to the familiar apartment complex.

Walking up the dim stairwell, Carrie felt as if her legs were filled with lead.

Countless possibilities flashed through her mind.

Maybe the place had turned into a garbage dump, stinking takeout boxes and flies everywhere.

Maybe the TV and the refrigerator were gone, sold off by that good-for-nothing girl for cash.

And a most terrifying thought even flashed through her mind: what if something had happened to Eileen at home?

Standing in front of the dark red security door, Carrie took a deep breath and dug her keys out of her bag.

Her hands were shaking so badly that she jabbed at the lock several times before she got the key in.

With a click, the lock turned.

Carrie closed her eyes and shoved the door open hard.

She had braced herself for the worst.

But when she opened her eyes and saw the scene inside the room

The family of three froze in the doorway all at once, as if a spell had rooted them there.

Kenneth's mouth dropped open, and the duffel bag in his hand hit the floor with a thud.

Carrie rubbed her eyes in disbelief, utterly stunned.