Throwing the rag into the bucket, Lena leaned against the windowsill. Dizziness and nausea made it hard to work. She sat down on a chair to catch her breath. Why had she rushed to wash these windows when her pregnancy hardly let her live? Looking through the clean glass at the washed curtains, Lena smiled. Pasha would have to help her hang them later, and the house would become cozy. They had been married for four months now, so it was time to tidy up her father-in-law’s house. On the first day after the wedding, his wife, Tamara Petrovna, scolded her husband:
“Get up, you need to water the garden, or everything will dry up!”
Lena felt sorry for her father-in-law and, grabbing a watering can, started watering the plants. Returning to the house, the young woman had to wash a mountain of dishes while the men snored sweetly in their beds. The hostess had gone to the market to sell vegetables.
That morning, Lena seriously thought about her life. After washing the pots and plates, she sat down. Was this fuss really what awaited her? No, it was just because of the backlog of recent tasks. Everything would work out, and Tamara Petrovna would like Lena because the daughter-in-law so loved her son. To prove this, the girl brought the necessary groceries from the cellar and started cooking lunch. Let Tamara Petrovna see what a good housewife she was. The appetizing smells attracted the men. They didn’t look long at the rich broth in the pot and the floating pieces of meat. Grabbing spoons, the men happily tasted Lenka’s borscht. The girl hoped she had pleased the family, and Tamara Petrovna, returning from the market, would surely praise her!
Lena hoped for this only. As soon as she entered, smelling the aromas, the mother-in-law started scolding. And, peering into the pot, the woman scolded even more. Lena had never heard so many strange and rude words addressed to her. The mother-in-law strictly ordered her to conserve supplies and not to squander them left and right. The girl wanted support from her husband and father-in-law, but they sat, hiding their eyes. Like cats that had misbehaved!
In the evening, her husband told Lena that it was customary in their family to save good products for sale. The girl was clueless. She wasn’t from the city either, but she and her mother didn’t skimp on vegetables. Yes, they didn’t take excess to the market. Lena didn’t understand the customs of her new family. All night, the girl couldn’t sleep, remembering her mother’s words, who was against this marriage. She didn’t like her in-laws. But Lena went against her mother. She loved her tall, dark-haired Pasha. They had applied to the institute together. Only the boy didn’t score enough points. Their love happened in the dormitory, which is why Lena got pregnant. Pasha wasn’t thrilled, but he promised to take care. They decided to later give the born child to their grandmothers to finish their studies.
Now, in the fourth month, Lena suffered under the roof of a stranger’s house. Tamara Petrovna didn’t let the girl near the kitchen. Supposedly, there’s no need to waste products. The mother-in-law would cook a meager porridge on water and sell the vegetables at the market. Then she secretly counted the money. Lena found work around the house, toiling in the vegetable beds. Pasha had recently started to reproach her:
“You’ve lost so much weight; there’s even nothing to grab onto!” “And why should I maintain my form if I spin like a squirrel in a wheel, and don’t eat anything?!” Elena retorted.
But the future baby also endured hunger with mommy. One day, Lena wanted fish and rushed to the store for it. At home, she made a delicious fish pie. The men gobbled up dinner so that it crackled behind their ears. But it was useless to prove to the mother-in-law that the food was prepared with her own money. She sent her daughter-in-law to clean the pigsty.
In the barn, the girl sobbed bitterly. Suddenly she heard the steps of her father-in-law. He closed the doors behind him and, handing a small bundle to the girl, said:
“Thank you for the tasty pie, daughter. But you can’t live here; she’ll eat you up, my good one. Run away from here before it’s too late.”
Unfolding the bundle, Lena saw her baked pie. She cried and ate, despite the unpleasant smells in the barn. At night, the girl remembered the old man’s words. Wouldn’t Pasha protect her here? Was he a ‘fallen apple’ not far from his tree?
Lena decided to wash these curtains to test her husband. In the evening, she asked him to help her hang them, but he growled through his teeth: “You took them down, you hang them up! I don’t have time.”
His phrase brought the girl to tears. Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. Opening it, Lena saw the postwoman. “Here’s your parcel!” said Katya cheerfully, handing Lena a hefty box.
Opening it, the young woman took out clothes for the future baby and gasped: “My dear, how many evenings did you spend knitting this?”
At that moment, Tamara Petrovna entered the house and, casting a contemptuous glance at the clean windows, said: “Are you cooling off? And the zucchinis and cucumbers haven’t been picked from the beds. What am I going to sell tomorrow?”
Then she took the package and dumped its contents on the floor. “What nice little things relatives have sent! But these, perhaps, can be sold tomorrow!” – taking small knitted mats in her hands, she dragged them to her room.
What the mother-in-law said was the last straw for Lena, and she burst out into the street. She ran and ran until she caught up with the postwoman Katya. “Where are you going? Come to my place,” she offered to Lena.
Soon, they were sitting at the table together, drinking tea with bagels. “You can’t go back to that toad. She’ll eat you up,” Katya remarked. “I’ll give you money for a ticket, go to your mother before it’s too late.”
After spending the night at the postwoman’s, Lena went to her mother-in-law’s house the next day to gather her things. The mother-in-law only sneered bitterly, seeing how the daughter-in-law packed clothes into a suitcase:
“Done wandering? Now back to mom with a belly?”
The husband sat nearby and watched his wife judgmentally. He didn’t even try to stop her. In due course, Lena gave birth to a beautiful baby. Later, she was able to continue her studies by correspondence at the institute, remarried, and found a good job.
Pasha never enrolled anywhere, replacing his mother at the market. His former mother-in-law died a few years ago. After Lena left, Tamara Petrovna fell belly-first onto the stakes in the pigsty. She decided to save on treatment. So she died. God punished her for such treatment of good people.