I once read that in ancient times, the bearer of bad news was punished. For the news that my dear husband Kolya brought, I would not only punish him—I’d take his soul. Imagine—he gave away money saved for a crucial item for our baby, to his wayward sister. And Kolya sincerely believes he did the right thing. This isn’t the first “impulse” of Nikolay’s, so I decided to punish my husband in my own way, in such a manner that the skies would seem cheap by comparison.
“Hello, Little Bell,” my sister-in-law Karina chirped into the phone.
Hearing this strange nickname for my husband made me shudder involuntarily. I generally dislike eavesdropping on others’ conversations, but Kolya’s phone speaker is too loud, so I can hear everything clearly, as if Karina is right here in our living room.
“Hello, Kar-Karych,” my husband replies with a smile. “How are you? How can I help?”
“Kar-Karych”… I shuddered again. In this family, it seems they childishly nickname each other, thank heavens my husband hasn’t come up with any nickname for me. Though… how could you nickname someone named Marina? “Pickled”? “Marine”? Thank goodness my husband lacked the imagination for that, a deep bow to him.
Meanwhile, my husband continued cooing to his younger sister:
“How much? Darn, couldn’t you find a simpler phone? Ah, it has a good camera, I see… Listen, I don’t exactly remember how much money I have left on my card, I’ll check the balance and call you back, okay?”
My husband hung up the phone and looked at me pitifully:
“Marinochka, please forgive me. It’s just that Karina is a very creative nature, she loves taking photos and videos, and for that, she needs a good phone.”
“Ah, Karina?” I flared up. “And I thought your sister was named Kar-Karych, suits her more like a crow’s name. How many thousand rubles has she decided to fleece us for this time?”
My husband named the sum, and I snorted:
“Indeed, mere pennies. Just a conductor’s salary, no more than that. Just understand that this girl is sitting on your family’s neck, feet dangling.”
“She’s the baby of the family, so Karina was always spoiled, whatever Karina asked for, they always bought her, it’s normal,” my husband tried to defend his sister.
“Honey, when someone begs for an expensive phone at 20, it’s audacity,” I retorted with aplomb. “Personally, at that age, I was studying at the economics faculty and working part-time in a cafe, remember? I supported myself, and even managed to give money to mom if she asked.”
“Well, Marinka, not everyone is such an ‘iron lady’ like you,” Nikolay complimented me. “You’re just made of completely different dough, whereas Karina is a creative, light, airy person…”
I didn’t argue with my husband and went to the kitchen, began cooking, clanging pots angrily. I believe that a man should bring money home, not squander it left and right. Some might argue that helping relatives is normal, but it’s important to see the line between helping and simply handing out.
If someone truly needs help, no questions—I’ll help. But taking Karina’s example, definitely not, she’s a real beggar, such is her lifestyle.
“Karina has concocted a plan to go to Moscow with friends, asking for money,” Nikolay tells me again. “She wants to record this trip on a new phone, then post the videos on her blog.”
“Well, who would have doubted,” I bloomed. “The chain ‘phone—capital—car’ begins. Keep up the same spirit, dear.”
“What car?” Kolya didn’t catch my sarcasm. “We’re just talking about paying for the trip and some pocket money.”
“Kolya, I have a question, why does your sister come to you, not to your parents? I think they wouldn’t mind anything for their beloved daughter,” I suddenly became curious. “It seems like you’re ‘three in one—brother, mom, and dad’ to her.”
In such moments, my husband would start to freak out, then retreat to the bedroom, sulking at me for a long time as if I’d called him some offensive word. Thankfully, he wouldn’t stay angry for long, especially since I was undeniably right.
Karina doesn’t really like me, knowing that I set my husband against wastefulness. I’m just curious how she would have behaved in my place. Especially since we’re a young family, we’ve taken a loan to buy a house, now we need to pay it off.
And then Karina rubbed my nose in it, decided to live separately from her parents, they apparently restrict her freedom.
“Our parents are old school, everything must be on schedule, by 10 p.m. everyone should be asleep, and Karina is a ‘night owl,’ you see?” my husband excuses again, transferring money to his sister for rent. “Especially since she’s working on her blog, sometimes staying up almost until morning. Of course, our parents can’t understand that, they’re factory workers.”
“Do you not think that you are now simply doomed to pay for your sister’s rent, at least until she gets married?” I tried to bring some sense to my husband. “I won’t even mention her studying or working, they’re simply incompatible with your sister.”
“Don’t say that!” Nikolay heatedly objected. “Karina told me about very successful bloggers who make huge money.”
“For that, you at least need to have some sense and diction,” I disagreed. “Your Karina has neither.”
Nikolay got offended again, transferred money to his sister, and didn’t talk to me until evening. I understand if he were some oil magnate, owner of factories and steamboats. Kolya is just a simple mechanic and doesn’t earn much, even less than me with my financial analysis.
Suddenly, I thought about how often I myself had begged my mom for money for personal needs. Surprisingly, I remembered only one moment when I really wanted a plush teddy bear.
“The first and last time, Marinochka,” my mom handed me the toy. “I’m raising you alone, we don’t have extra money.”
From that moment, I understood that in this life, you should only rely on your own strength. After all, as the ancient philosophers said, I believe it was Confucius: “Happiness is when thoughts, desires, and opportunities are in harmony.” Golden words, I believe.
I won’t tire you with a full list of all my sister-in-law’s “wants,” but my husband has consistently invested his money in his sister. But why “his money”? We’re a family, so the money is family money, meaning Karina mercilessly damages our budget.
“Look, Marina, Karinka’s really nailing it!” my husband sat on the couch with his laptop, watching the latest issue of his sister’s blog. “This issue is dedicated to the trip to Moscow.”
I decided to see what our sponsorship money went on, and it turned out to be a waste. My sister-in-law was completely inept on camera, awkwardly grimacing and twitching. Karina also has some speech issues, she doesn’t articulate some letters properly.
“What did you say her blog is called?” I clarified.
“Super Karina, isn’t it a cool name?” my husband beamed. “I really like it.”
“Uh, she definitely lacks creativity,” I muttered under my breath.
“What did you say?” my husband didn’t hear me. “I just turned the sound in my headphones up full blast.”
“I’m saying that your sister has only 28 subscribers, talk about an influencer,” I smirked. “I wonder when she’ll reach even a hundred subscribers, maybe by her thirtieth birthday?”
One day, I felt so unwell that I was even sent home from work. My friend Tanya watched as I slowly packed up and whispered conspiratorially:
“Marinka, I think I’ve figured out what happened to you.”
“Probably ate something wrong,” I brushed her off. “I can’t make it a rule to check the expiration date on food packages.”
“Go to the pharmacy, buy a pregnancy test,” Tanya winked at me. “I have two kids, so I have an eye for these things.”
Tanya, as they say, hit the nail on the head. The test indeed showed two lines. I had long dreamed of this moment, so I nearly started dancing with joy. Even the malaise somehow flew away. However, I needed to see a specialist to get the final verdict.
“That’s correct, you’ll become a mother, congratulations,” the gynecologist smiled widely at me in her pristine white coat. “Here’s a brochure, it’s all written here.”
Such a momentous event had to be celebrated, so I decided to arrange a romantic dinner for Kolya. I had to stop by the store to pick up several packages of various snacks.
“Oh, French meat?” Nikolay was surprised. “What are we celebrating? Did you get a promotion at work?”
“This is the best reason in the world, dear,” I threw myself into my husband’s arms. “You’re going to be a father!”
Nikolay effortlessly picked me up, as light as a feather, and spun me around the room, it was clear that my husband was over the moon with happiness. The news of the upcoming birth of our child immediately spread throughout our family, and phone calls with congratulations started pouring in.
Absolutely everyone called, except one person—Karina. Apparently, she was too busy with her blog to spare even a couple of minutes to congratulate us. I had no doubts about this.
I don’t know who among us had sinned in a past life, but when I was six months pregnant, Fate played a cruel joke on us. The auto service where Nikolay worked closed down, and my husband was left without a job.
“It’s just temporary, darling,” my husband reassured me, always guiltily looking into my eyes. “You know, I have ‘golden hands,’ any service would take me.”
However, everything was more complicated than Kolya thought. Although he constantly monitored websites and looked at job postings, there were no suitable offers.
“I’m not going to, a mechanic, unload wagons,” my husband fumed.
I said nothing, there was simply nothing to say. Personally, I think when a family is in such a position, you’d run to unload wagons, you’d work around the clock at three jobs, just to make sure the family lacked for nothing.
When it was time to give birth, it became clear that my husband couldn’t financially help me. I had to go to my parents and ask them for money for the essentials, including a baby crib and stroller.
“Of course, Marinochka, what’s there to talk about,” my dad agreed immediately and brought the needed amount. “The main thing is that the granddaughter is born healthy.”
I’m still grateful to my dad and mom for that gesture, as there was no other help to be expected. At work, I received decent bonuses, but I spent them on various small items and groceries, as my husband was essentially sitting on my neck, just like the infamous Karina.
“Please, this stroller,” I asked the sales consultant.
My father took me to the store for newborns the same day, where we bought a wonderful stroller for our future daughter.
“Alenuska will love it,” I beamed, examining the purchase. I had already come up with a name for my daughter.
Nikolay, who arrived, agreed with me, the stroller was simply magical.
I handed him the remaining money:
“While I’m in the maternity hospital, please buy the crib, okay? And assemble it so that everything is ready by the time I’m discharged.”
Nikolay assured me that everything would be in the best order. I was somewhat reassured and went to give birth with a peaceful soul. Everything went surprisingly smoothly and quickly—a wonderful little person, our daughter, was born.
When my husband met me from the maternity hospital, I immediately realized something had happened.
“Everything’s fine,” Nikolay assured me. “Just didn’t sleep at night, worried about how you were there…”
We entered the house, and I immediately went to the bedroom, which we had planned to equip as a nursery. Entering the door, I was dumbfounded—there was no crib or stroller in the room! I looked at my husband with anger:
“Explain what happened?”
His answer completely floored me.
“Dear, I sold the baby stroller, gave the money to my sister, she needed it more,” my husband declared.
“Are you even sane?” I hissed loudly. “What in this world could be more important than the birth of a child?”
“Karina called, said that there’s a ‘Super Blogger’ course in our city, said it’s very promising. They’re just excellent, but quite expensive, in short, I had to sell the stroller too, the money for the crib was there. And then, the baby can sleep with you for now… And you can carry him in your arms…”
I listened to this utter nonsense and understood that today my family life had ended.
“I don’t care where you get the money, but you will give it back to me. This is my parents’ money, given for a specific purpose,” I said angrily. “And lastly, you no longer live in this apartment. All the payments were made by me, and you contributed to your sister, so live with her.”
For the time being, I decided to go to my parents, I needed their help and support now more than ever. Kolya returned the money, begged for forgiveness for a long time, but I couldn’t do it.
If a person treats his child like this—I definitely can’t be with such a husband.