Chapter 2

2: 2

2

"What is it?" My son never took his eyes off the TV, but his brow was already knotting. "Lost money, didn't you? I told you a long time ago not to touch that stuff!"

"You wouldn't listen. Now you finally get it, huh?"

Laughter blared out of some variety show on the screen, grating.

Lily gave a small laugh and patted the baby's back.

"You see that, sweetie? Don't ever grow up to be like Grandma."

"Stocks these days are all a scam. They go after exactly the kind of uneducated old women who dream too big."

"You pour money in, and there's not so much as a ripple to show for it."

My grandson nodded, not understanding a word.

My throat cinched tight, like something had it in a grip.

"Mom, come on, out with it. How much did you lose?"

Ethan finally shot me a glance, his voice thick with impatience.

"Let me be clear with you. I don't have money to fill your holes right now."

"Mortgage, car loan, formula for the kid. Which one of those doesn't cost money?"

"The economy's this bad. You think it's easy for me to make a little money?"

Lily chimed in, her voice sugary to the point of nausea. "Exactly, Mom. If you're short on cash, why not go find a job as a cleaner?"

"You can't sit still at home anyway. Might as well go out, earn a bit, help with the bills."

My heart sank, bit by bit, down into the coldest deep.

Every word I'd meant to say lodged in my throat.

"So what happened with the stocks? Are you going to say it or not?"

Ethan suddenly raised his voice, not because of what I'd said, but because I was blocking a sliver of his view of the TV.

"Move over a little. Can't you see it's just getting to the good part?"

"Whatever it is, can't it wait till tomorrow? You have to pick this exact moment."

On the screen, glossy, polished celebrities were fooling around, their laughter shaking the room.

I looked at my son's face, all etched over with irritation, at the contempt Lily didn't even bother to hide, and finally at my grandson, who understood none of it.

The flicker of softness I'd felt earlier was doused clean through by the cold water of reality.

I stood up slowly.

"The stocks are nothing."

"I just wanted to tell you. Starting tomorrow, I'm moving out."

The second he heard it, his face dropped, and he flung the remote hard onto the coffee table.

"Mom, are you out of your mind? Running away from home over some little thing? What's the point?"

His voice came out hard and blunt.

"You're this old already, how are you still so petty? I only said a couple of things to you this afternoon."

I didn't answer. I just looked at him.

Lily held the baby, the corner of her mouth curved, her words soft with a barb buried inside. "Mom, don't take it to heart. We were just talking and it slipped out that way."

"Think about it. You've been living here with us. When have we ever treated you badly?"

"The baby's so close to you. We're family. What tongue never bumps a tooth?"

"Getting worked up over a little thing like this isn't worth it."

When she finished, she bent her head and cooed at my grandson.

"Baby, hurry and tell Grandma not to leave. Grandma loves you the most, doesn't she?"

The baby babbled something, understanding nothing.

I stayed on my feet, my voice level. "I'm not worked up. I've already decided."

"Decided what? I think you've lost your mind!"

Ethan's voice shot up, the irritation on his face plain for anyone to see.

"Let me ask you. You leave, who watches the kid?"

"Who cooks? Who sweeps the floors?"

"So these three years of keeping you were for nothing? Not one bit of gratitude, huh?"

"The moment something doesn't go your way, you just throw up your hands and walk out?"

Lily jumped in at once, her tone loaded with exaggerated grievance. "Exactly, Mom, think it through properly."

"These three years with us, the food, the roof, everything you use, which of it wasn't paid for by us?"

"So many old people are all alone back home, wanting to see their children and grandchildren and never getting to. They'd be sick with envy of you."

"You get to hold your grandson every day, and all you have to do is easy things like sweeping and cooking. How lucky is that!"

"If you really go making a scene about running away, and word gets out, are people going to laugh at us, or laugh at you for not knowing when you're well off?"

My eyes moved over the two of them.

"You tell me, hand on your hearts, have you really been good to me these three years?"

My son shifted under my gaze, turning his face away, but his voice went colder still. "Either way, I don't agree! You walk out and who deals with this whole mess?"

"Isn't your mother retired too?" I said mildly. "Sweeping and cooking are so easy, right? Just have her come take my place."

"That won't work!" Lily's voice spiked at once, like she'd had her tail stepped on. "You know perfectly well how frail my mother is!"

"All she can manage is a bit of line dancing. How would she hold up under a kid and housework?"

"And she loves her mahjong. Where would she find the time?"

This past Labor Day, my son took her parents' family out to some remote hills for a trip.

In the photos they posted, that "frail" mother of Lily's carried my grandson on her back, spirited and spry, and climbed a long stretch of mountain path in one go.

Her laughter rang out louder than anyone's.