— Pack your things, Lida. I’m not putting up with this anymore! — Marina’s ringing voice sliced through the silence of the apartment like a sharp scalpel.
She was standing in the middle of the kitchen, clutching the empty package from the expensive Swiss cheese she had bought yesterday specifically for the children’s breakfast.
“What are you yelling at me for so early in the morning?” Lidiya replied lazily, not even turning her head. She was sitting at the table in Marina’s terry robe, which she had taken “temporarily,” slowly stirring her coffee with a spoon. “My blood pressure shot up this morning, and here you are throwing a tantrum over some piece of food.”
“This isn’t just some piece of food, Lida!” Marina took a step forward, her fingers trembling with indignation. “That was my children’s breakfast. And that is my robe. And this is my home, where I haven’t been able to feel at peace for an entire month!”
“Oh, big deal, the children,” the guest snorted, finally deigning to look at the hostess. “They can eat porridge. It’ll be healthier for them. And the robe… well, I was cold. We’re family, Marina. Why be so petty? You’ve always been so tight-fisted, even as a child you hid candy.”
“I didn’t hide it. I divided it fairly, unlike some people!” Marina felt a lump rise in her throat. “You promised to stay for one week. Exactly seven days, while they changed the pipes in your apartment. Today is day thirty-two. Thirty. Two.”
Lidiya gave a theatrical sigh and propped her cheek on her hand.
“You know how these repairmen work. First the tiles don’t arrive, then the worker goes on a drinking binge. What are we supposed to do, live at the train station? Think about it yourself — it’s minus twenty-five outside. Are you going to throw your husband’s own sister and nephew out into the freezing cold? Do you even have a conscience?”
“Right now my conscience wants peace and a clean kitchen,” Marina snapped. “Where is your son?”
“Artyomka is still sleeping,” Lidiya answered benevolently. “He was playing on the computer until three in the morning yesterday. Let the child rest.”
“On my son’s computer?” Marina froze. “I asked him not to touch Pavel’s equipment. He needs to prepare for his exams!”
“Oh, come on, your Pasha is an excellent student anyway,” Lidiya waved her off. “And Artyomka is bored. By the way, Marina, you should keep an eye on your son. He’s too withdrawn, always buried in books. A man needs to be raised more strictly, and you spoil him. Now my Artyom is solid as a rock. He said, ‘I want to play,’ and he plays.”
Marina inhaled deeply, trying not to lose control and shout.
“Lida, that was the last time. Tonight, when my husband comes home, we are going to have a serious talk.”
“Go ahead, call your Oleg, call him,” Lidiya smirked, returning to her coffee. “Let’s see how he throws his sister out in this bitter cold.”
By afternoon, the situation had grown even more heated. Marina was trying to work remotely, but shouts kept coming from the children’s room — Artyom, an overgrown sixteen-year-old who seemed to have imagined himself the master of the house.
Marina entered the room and saw a mountain of candy wrappers on the carpet and spilled soda near the computer tower.
“Artyom, I asked you not to eat in here,” she said as calmly as possible.
The boy didn’t even turn around, continuing to click the mouse furiously.
“Hey, Aunt Marina, bring me something to drink. Everything ran out.”
For a moment, Marina was speechless at such insolence.
“Have you confused something? Get up, clean up your mess, and get off the computer. Pavel will be home soon, and he needs to study.”
“Your Pashka will survive,” Artyom muttered. “He’s boring anyway. And I’ve got an important match going.”
Marina walked over and simply pulled the plug out of the socket. The screen went dark. A ringing silence hung in the room, broken a second later by Artyom’s wild howl.
“What the hell are you doing?! My ranking was on the line! Mom! Mom, she’s trying to drive me out!”
Lidiya flew into the room a second later, as if she had been waiting outside the door.
“What is going on here? Marina, why are you bullying the child?”
“Your child is trashing — excuse me, there is no other word for it — my son’s room and being rude to me in my own home!” Marina pointed at the stain on the carpet. “Who is going to clean that?”
“Oh, a little stain,” Lidiya wrinkled her nose contemptuously. “Buy some cleaner and spray it. Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill. Artyom is at that transitional age. He needs positive emotions. And you’re bothering him with your household nonsense.”
“You know what, Lida,” Marina felt something inside her finally snap. “I’m going to the bathroom now. If I see a pile of your dirty laundry there that you still haven’t bothered to wash, I’ll just throw it out the window.”
“Just try it!” Lidiya shrieked. “And actually, speaking of the bathroom. Your washing machine… it isn’t spinning.”
Marina went cold.
“What do you mean, it isn’t spinning?”
“Well, yesterday I stuffed Artyom’s down jacket in there. And my sneakers. And also the blanket from the guest room — it smelled like hair. At first it was making noise, and then it started smoking and stopped.”
Marina rushed into the bathroom. A puddle of soapy water stood beside the washing machine. The drum was packed so tightly with things that it looked as if they had been hammered inside.
“Lida, this machine has a six-kilogram load limit! Why did you put shoes and a down jacket in together?!”
“What’s the big deal?” Lidiya stood in the doorway with her arms crossed. “The ad said it washes everything. So the machine is defective. Call a repairman and let him fix it under warranty.”
“Warranty doesn’t cover idiocy, Lida!” Marina grabbed her head. “This is expensive equipment!”
“Don’t yell at me,” Lidiya narrowed her eyes. “It’s your own fault for buying some delicate, fancy equipment, and now you’re taking it out on family. You’d be better off making lunch. There’s nothing in the fridge. Just some stupid yogurts left.”
The evening promised to be difficult. When Oleg, Marina’s husband, came home from work, he was greeted not by the aroma of dinner but by the heavy atmosphere of an approaching storm.
Lidiya immediately rushed to her brother.
“Olezhek, thank God! Put your wife in her place. She attacked Artyomka today, ripped equipment out of the socket, shouted at him. She’s completely lost her mind over her obsession with cleanliness.”
Oleg tiredly looked at his sister, then at Marina, who was sitting in the corner of the sofa with an unnaturally straight back.
“Lida, let’s go step by step. What happened to the washing machine?”
“It broke, I told you! It was probably old.”
“It’s two months old,” Marina said quietly. “Repairs will cost fifteen thousand, if not more. Oleg, they ate all the meat supplies I bought for the month. They broke the equipment. Your nephew is rude to my face.”
“Oleg, don’t listen to her,” Lidiya interrupted. “We’re family. The renovation at our place really has dragged on. The crew let us down. We have nowhere to go! You won’t throw your sister and her child out into the freezing cold, will you?”
Oleg rubbed the bridge of his nose. He had always been a gentle man and loved his sister very much despite her quarrelsome nature.
“Lid, honestly, a month is already too much. Maybe you should look for a rental apartment for a couple of weeks? I’ll help pay if things are really tight.”
“A rental?!” Lidiya gasped with outrage. “You’re suggesting that I, your own blood, live in some stranger’s dump with bedbugs? When you have a four-room apartment? Oleg, Mom would turn over in her grave if she knew you were throwing me out!”
“Lida, don’t drag Mom into this,” Oleg grimaced.
“Oh, I will!” Lidiya sensed weakness and went on the attack. “You’re living in luxury here while we’re crammed into one room. Your Marina reproaches us over every piece of bread. She turns her children against Artyomka. Today Pashka didn’t even say hello. He just walked past as if we were a wall. Is that what you call upbringing?”
Marina stood up and silently went into the bedroom. She understood that talking would not help. A different strategy was needed.
The next morning began strangely. Marina wasn’t running around the kitchen, wasn’t making breakfast, and wasn’t grumbling about scattered things. She was sitting at her laptop, focused on typing something and studying websites on the internet.
Lidiya came out of the room closer to noon.
“Well, have you cooled off?” she asked triumphantly, heading toward the refrigerator. “Make me an omelet, but without milk. It gives me heartburn.”
Marina did not move.
“There will be no omelet.”
“And why is that?” Lidiya turned around. “Another fit of caprice?”
“No. The all-inclusive service has simply ended,” Marina turned the laptop screen toward Lidiya. “I prepared a small document here. Take a look.”
Lidiya came closer, squinting.
“What are these numbers?”
“It’s a bill,” Marina explained calmly. “I took the average rates from the Azimut hotel, which is two blocks from here. A double room is five thousand per night. Multiply that by thirty days. That is one hundred and fifty thousand.”
“Have you lost your mind?” Lidiya choked on air.
“Wait, I’m not finished. This includes full board: breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. I calculated the supermarket receipts for the past month. The amount Oleg, the children, and I usually spend is normally three times less than what we spent this month. The difference is forty-eight thousand rubles.”
“You… you counted food?” Lidiya turned red with rage. “You’re reproaching your husband’s own sister over cutlets?”
“Moving on,” Marina continued without raising her voice. “A washing machine technician’s visit. Diagnostics and replacement of the control module — eighteen thousand. Carpet dry cleaning in the children’s room after Artyom’s Coca-Cola — three thousand. In total, including minor expenses, you owe us two hundred and twenty-one thousand rubles.”
Lidiya burst into loud, fake laughter.
“Oh, you scared me! And what are you going to do? Sue us? Are we registered here? No. We’re guests! And guests don’t pay.”
“You’re right,” Marina snapped the laptop shut. “You are guests. And hospitality is voluntary. Mine has ended. Today at five o’clock, a cleaning service and security will arrive here.”
“What security?” Lidiya frowned.
“A private security company that our building has a contract with. I will report that there are outsiders in my apartment who refuse to leave the premises and are damaging property. You have no documents giving you the right to live here. Your things will be carefully packed by the cleaning service and placed in the stairwell.”
“You wouldn’t dare!” Lidiya broke into a shriek. “Oleg will throw you out of the house for this!”
“Oleg knows,” Marina lied, though she knew that once her husband saw the bill, he would definitely support her. “He himself is shocked by the cost of repairing the machine. By the way, Artyom also broke Pavel’s headphones. That’s another seven thousand. Should I add it to the bill?”
“Go to hell!” Lidiya slammed the door so hard the glass in the sideboard rattled.
At four o’clock in the afternoon, Lidiya and Artyom began frantically packing their bags. They did it deliberately loudly, throwing things around and continuing to shout curses.
“We’re leaving, but I will never set foot here again!” Lidiya yelled from the hallway. “You’re a snake, Marina! You destroyed this family!”
“A family is destroyed by the absence of conscience, Lida,” Marina stood in the kitchen doorway, leaning against the frame. “I gave you shelter when you needed it. And you decided I was obligated to support you.”
“We would have moved out in a week!” Artyom inserted, pulling on his sneakers.
“You’ve been saying that for three weeks,” Marina noted. “By the way, where are the keys?”
“Look for them in the toilet!” Lidiya snapped.
Marina calmly took out her phone.
“Security is already downstairs. Lida, either you put the keys on the dresser, or right now we draw up a report for property damage and call the police to document the theft of the keys. Do you need that kind of trouble?”
Lidiya, turning crimson, yanked the keys from her pocket and threw them forcefully onto the floor.
“Choke on them! We’ll go to Aunt Valya. She’s a person of the old school. She understands what helping family means!”
“Good luck to Aunt Valya,” Marina wished sincerely. “She’ll need it.”
When the guests slammed the door behind them, Marina felt neither triumph nor joy. There was only a hollow, ringing emptiness and endless exhaustion. She went into the bathroom, looked at the broken washing machine, and sighed.
Half an hour later, Oleg came home. He saw the bags in the hallway — the ones Lidiya had forgotten to take in her rush — and his wife sitting in the kitchen with a cup of tea.
“They left?” he asked briefly.
“They left,” Marina nodded. “I presented them with a bill. Lida promised to curse us to the seventh generation.”
Oleg sat down beside her and put his arm around her shoulders.
“You know, I stopped by their apartment today. The one where they supposedly had ‘renovations.’”
Marina looked up at him.
“And?”
“People live there, Marin. They’ve been renting that apartment for six months. Lida simply rented out her apartment to make some money, and decided to live with us ‘for free’ while the tenants were paying.”
Marina froze with the cup in her hands.
“So… there was no renovation?”
“None,” Oleg sighed. “When I found out, I wanted to call you immediately, but then I decided to wait until evening. And you, as it turns out, had already solved everything yourself.”
“I’m sorry it turned out this way with your sister, Oleg.”
“So am I,” he kissed the top of her head. “But you know, the silence in this house is worth any money. Even two hundred thousand.”
A week later, Marina received a message in her messenger. It was from Aunt Valya.
“Marinochka, sweetheart, do you happen to know when Lida is planning to leave my place? She says your apartment is being renovated and that you asked her to stay with me for a week…”
Marina looked at the screen, smiled bitterly, and began typing a reply.
“Aunt Valya, I’m going to send you a very useful price list…”
She attached the file with her “hospitality bill” and pressed send. No one would take advantage of her kindness again
