Maria loved her wedding dress very much. A year had passed since the wedding, and she still looked at the white “cloud,” neatly packed in a cover and hanging in a special section of the wardrobe, with tenderness.
From time to time, Maria took out the dress and admired it, dreaming that she would wear it again on her wedding anniversary.
That’s probably why a recent call from her mother’s sister, Olga, threw Maria off balance.
“Mashenka, I have a small favor to ask, just a trifle. You know that Regina is getting married in a month, right?”
“Yes, I heard…” Maria answered cautiously.
“So, in our family every penny counts, and you know what the prices are like! My daughter and I visited several stores and realized that beautiful dresses are out of our reach, and we don’t want to buy something cheap. In short, Regina wants to borrow your wedding dress. You have the same size, and the measurements are the same, though Regina is a bit curvier than you, but nothing, we’ll tighten the corset a bit. Can you prepare everything by a certain date? Dry cleaning, ironing, so the dress looks like new?”
“I actually had it cleaned right after the wedding.”
“Oh, then just steam it. And you had beautiful crystal decorations too, please prepare them as well. We’ll pick everything up. We would take the shoes too, but Regina’s feet are bigger than yours, I’ve already checked.”
Maria didn’t even know what to say to such audacity. For her, shoes and personal items were sacrosanct, the same as giving someone your toothbrush.
Maria recalled a childhood incident when she was bought nice jeans. They were a bit long for her, and her mom always promised to shorten them. But a couple of weeks later, Aunt Olga took them. She justified it by saying she simply couldn’t buy the same for her daughter, who wanted to flaunt them at a camp she was going to for a month. The jeans were just the right length for Regina, who was taller than Maria.
Obviously, Maria never got her jeans back. Aunt concocted some story that the pants were stolen at camp… And only a couple of years later, Maria found out the truth. It turned out that Regina had torn the pants climbing trees. And since she didn’t value others’ belongings, the worn-out jeans stayed at the camp.
“You know, Aunt Olga, I want to wear that dress myself. Our wedding anniversary is right after your wedding,” Maria replied to her aunt.
“Don’t worry, we’ll give it back after the event. So you’ll have time to wear it. Yes, remember, the veil too. It had a beautiful hoop, right?”
“The hoop was made of fresh flowers,” Maria muttered. She didn’t know how else to refuse her aunt to make her understand. If Maria wanted to give it to someone, she would have definitely posted it on a classifieds site after the wedding, as her acquaintances had done.
“Well, we can’t afford fresh flowers, but we’ll figure something out,” said the aunt. Her tone implied that Maria wouldn’t refuse. “Alright, let’s do it. There’s still a lot to be done. Say hi to mom.”
The woman ended the call, leaving Maria shocked as she stared at the darkened phone screen. She decided to consult with her husband, but it wasn’t possible: a message from her mother arrived.
“Hi, daughter. Regina asked for the dress, I said you would give it. It’s just gathering dust anyway.”
Maria struggled with herself all evening, and when her husband came home, he immediately noticed her mood.
“What happened?” he asked, and Maria, sighing, told him about the situation.
“I don’t know what to do. Mom already promised…”
“Dear, it’s just a dress. Besides, she’ll just wear it once and then return it. I understand your concerns, but I think they are unfounded. If you really don’t want to give your things away, we can make it a condition: we lend the dress, but we bring a purely symbolic gift to the wedding. After all, renting is worth about 30,000.”
“Yes, that’s a good idea,” Maria brightened. She thought Regina would immediately refuse, but surprisingly, the girl agreed.
“I don’t need a gift from you. A young family, you have no money, and I don’t need a set of pots. So we’ll take the dress anyway,” she declared.
Maria had to give up her precious item.
The wedding went relatively smoothly, although at the end of the evening, the bride spilled a plate of watermelon on herself, turning the dress from snow-white to pink.
Maria thought the dress would be immediately taken to the dry cleaners, but she was mistaken. Moreover, the newlyweds couldn’t return the borrowed item for a long time. Regina kept finding excuses.
Maria realized she had to retrieve the dress herself if she wanted to wear it for her anniversary.
“Masha, if you’re itching for it, come and get it yourself. I don’t have time,” Regina said when Maria reminded her about the dress again.
“Alright. I’ll come this evening,” Maria thought that her sister had either sold the dress or completely ruined it. So she went to her sister’s address.
Regina didn’t bother with niceties, brought out the cover in the entranceway, not even inviting her sister for tea.
Maria took the dress and left. Only at home did she see that the dress was in pink stains! Old, unwashed, not to mention dry cleaned. Regina had simply “given up” on the dress, stuffing it in the cover. Upset, Maria called her sister and expressed everything she thought.
“Take it to the dry cleaners, what’s the problem?”
“I thought you would take care of returning the items in their original condition. I brought you almost a new dress. And you ruined it! What am I supposed to celebrate my anniversary in?!”
“Come on, think what a disaster! Buy a new one! Your husband earns well…” her sister brushed her off.
At the dry cleaners, they said, “no guarantees on the work, because the stains are old.” In the end, Maria lost her favorite item. She had no dress for her anniversary and had to urgently find an alternative. Regina felt no guilt.
“I will never give her anything again. Ungrateful woman!” Maria snorted.
The situation was eventually forgotten. Maria and her husband had a daughter, Katyusha. They were happy and devoted all their time to their child.
At that time, Regina hadn’t had children yet, but she decided it was necessary to speed up the process, as Masha had so many things idle! A stroller for a newborn, various trinkets, toys… Why should she spend money on things her sister had already bought?
There was only to explain to Masha that these things were more important to a low-income family than air.
“We can’t afford it,” she told Maria. “And your parents help you. And your husband earns more than mine.”
No matter how much Masha tried to ward off her persistent sister, a few weeks later, when Masha was putting the child to bed, the doorbell rang. Aunt Olga was on the doorstep, holding a huge bag.
“Well, did you prepare it?” she asked.
“What are you talking about?”
“The baby things. We discussed it with your mom.”
“I didn’t gather anything…” Masha was at a loss.
“No problem. Let’s look together, I know what’s needed.”
The woman unceremoniously walked into the kitchen and began to scoop up whatever seemed necessary to her. If Maria’s husband hadn’t intervened, the dear aunt would have carried out half the house.
“Stop! This isn’t a clearance sale. We need all this.”
“Why?!”
“We’re expecting another child,” he answered.
The aunt looked skeptically at the blushing Masha, rocking Katyusha in her arms, and left empty-handed.
In the evening, she complained to Maria’s mother that her niece was not too courteous.
For some time, visits and calls with requests ceased. But only until Maria decided to sell the unnecessary items.
And her mother called again.
“I promised Olga that you would give them what’s newer,” she said.
“But mom, we wanted to sell all this and recoup some of the spent money. Children’s things are expensive!”
“Don’t be petty, daughter. What will you make? Pennies. But you’ll help your sister save rubles. Besides, your father and I bought many things for you. Consider that we bought these things for you and your niece, so don’t be stingy. They need it more now.”
Maria consulted with her husband, and it was decided to make concessions.
“Let them take it if they need it. We won’t be poorer.”
Aunt Olga immediately came for the box of items. She sorted through them and grumpily noted:
“It’s all girlish. We have a boy. Can’t you buy neutral colors so it suits everyone?!”
“Want neutral? Then leave our stuff, and go to the store. They have any colors in stock. But for money.”
“Fine, I’m not taking it for free either. Here,” she switched from “anger” to grace, extending a cheap chocolate bar.
Maria took it, but drew her conclusions. She herself called her mother, told her about the ungrateful aunt, and asked her mother not to decide for the spouses what and to whom they would give.
“From now on, we will buy everything ourselves. But we will also manage the items ourselves,” Maria warned.
“Alright, I just meant it in a familial way, from a pure heart.”
“Good intentions… you know the rest.”
Soon, Masha gave birth to a second child. The couple’s happiness knew no bounds.
Regina also experienced the joy of motherhood: she initially stayed home. But then she got bored and started visiting with her son. Especially she liked visiting Masha, because they always welcomed guests warmly.
“We came for tea,” she declared from the threshold. Maria had just come back from a walk and planned to put the kids to bed. But her sister disrupted her plans, the kids “ran wild,” and even the younger one didn’t fall asleep, starting to fuss. It took some effort to calm down.
While Maria was serving the guest, the kids climbed onto the sofa. And started jumping on it like on a trampoline. When Maria made a remark, they quieted down. But only for a while. After five minutes, there was such a scream that the young mother felt a chill inside.
“Mom, he broke my constructor! And took my bear!” Katyusha cried. Regina’s son was meanwhile tearing off an eye glued to the bear.
“Quiet! — Maria couldn’t stand it.
“What’s the problem? Katyusha, you’re the sister! You should share with your brother,” Regina wasn’t going to take the foreign object from her son, on the contrary, she encouraged him to take all he wanted. And he wanted more and more. The next item on his wish list was a game controller. But the child was quite small and quickly broke the expensive “toy,” throwing the console against the wall.
This made Maria very unhappy. She knew her husband loved to play video games in his free time, and now… His toy was broken.
It was her husband who stopped all this disgrace, coming home early and hearing his daughter’s crying and the crack of plastic.
He entered the room and silently took the now one-eyed plush bear from the child, took his wife’s nephew by the hand, and handed him to Regina.
“It’s time for you to go. Our children have nothing in common, and there can’t be. We no longer lend or rent out.”
Regina was upset and left. But this woman didn’t know how to stay angry for long.
She forgot about her pride when it came time for the next stage: Maria’s older daughter had outgrown the crib, and she needed a new, larger one.
“Maria, hello. I know you’re selling the crib… Well, ours is falling apart. You must help. At least for a while,” she said, stopping by one day.
“Okay. I’ll help. But now we have a price.”
Maria handed her sister a sheet of paper with the rates. She and her husband already knew that Regina would continue to pester them with requests, and they were prepared for it.
“Crib rental — 5000 rubles, mattress — 1500, pillows — 300. Bedding — 1500… and so on,” Regina muttered. “Wait… what’s this?”
“Deposit. Until you return the items in the same condition, this amount is not returned.”
In a burst of emotion, Regina tore up the “price list” and, uttering a few rudenesses towards her sister and her husband, left.
Maria and her husband soon managed to sell what was no longer needed, and with that money, they bought a cute bed for Katyusha.
Relations with the family did not improve, on the contrary, they faded away. And although Maria’s mother occasionally hinted that her daughter was too influenced by her husband, and now because of this they were in a quarrel with her sister, Masha principially did not make contact. And over time, Regina backed off.