Its only right that a daughter looks after her parents, not a son! declared the relatives.
Mums worse. Her legs give way completely, she fell twice yesterday trying to get to the loo.
I cant cope on my own, you know my bad back. Weve talked it over and decided well move her in with you.
Elizabeth slipped quietly onto the kitchen chair, feeling her heart plummet somewhere into her stomach.
With us? Dad, have you seen our flat? Theres just one room me, my husband and the baby. Where would I even put her?
Dont exaggerate. Your Harry can sleep on a camp bed in the kitchen, your mum can have the sofa.
Youre at home with the little one anyway what difference does it make, one more person? And we certainly cant afford extra expenses right now!
In Elizabeths family, the pecking order had always been clear. Perched proudly at the top was Michael the long-awaited son and heir, for whom her parents would do anything.
Elizabeth was merely the first pancake, as their mother would say, the one no one really wanted.
She remembered her tenth birthday a cheap box of sweets and a set of hair clips, while a week later Michael, turning six, was presented with an enormous train set that dominated half the sitting room.
Mum, why does Michael get a railway and I only sweets? young Elizabeth had asked.
Because Michaels a boy and younger, her mother, Mrs. Margaret Carter, snapped. Youre the eldest, you should learn to share!
And dont you dare be jealous of your brother. Go and help him with the tracks, hell get upset otherwise.
That was how it always went.
When it came time to split up the bedrooms, Elizabeth was banished to the draughty living room, bedspring poking her through the old sofa, because Michael needs his own space for schoolwork.
Elizabeth had dreamed of joining the local dance class and even passed the audition, but her father cut her down instantly: Weve no money. Michael needs a private tutor for his English. Hes special, hes going places. We have to give him every advantage!
Michael, in the end, went nowhere: he skipped English tuition, got poor marks, yet always boasted the latest trainers and new phone.
While Elizabeth studied under the flickering light in the front room, background noise from the TV her parents watched long into the night.
When she got a place at a top university on merit, her parents didnt even have a celebratory supper.
Well, good for you, yawned her father. Pack your things, you can move into halls.
We cant pay for a rented flat, need to save for Michaels education. Hell never get a grant with his grades…
But there are four to a room in the halls, itll be crowded, Elizabeth protested.
Youll survive, her mother inserted. Be reasonable, think of your brother! Or do you want him sweeping the streets his whole life?
She spent five years living with strangers, working evenings at the local pub to afford winter boots.
Michael, meanwhile, swapped second-hand cars that her parents bought him one after another, so he wouldnt look foolish in front of mates.
Every broken headlight, every fine her father paid out of the nest egg hed put aside for old age.
***
Elizabeth, are you listening? her fathers voice blared through the receiver. Well be bringing your mother round tomorrow at two.
Get everything ready clean bedding, make a soup she can eat.
I wont be taking anyone in, Elizabeth said quietly but firmly.
What did you say? her father, almost choking, demanded. Say that again!
I said I wont look after mum. I have a toddler who needs me every hour. My husband works two jobs so we dont go hungry. I have neither the space nor the strength to care for someone bedbound.
Youve got your precious son take her to him.
Hes about to get married! her father roared. Do you realise what youre doing? Youre betraying the family!
Gone into debt? Again? Elizabeth gave a bitter laugh. Shall I remind you how three years ago he drove drunk into a neighbours greenhouse? Then too you paid everything to hush it up.
But when I got married and begged for just a small loan for our own place, you said Michael needed to recover from his ordeal.
That was different! It was a crisis! her father insisted.
No, the crisis is in your heads. Michaels a grown man with a flat you bought him. If hes so successful, let him hire a nurse for mum.
You youre so selfish, her father exploded. We raised you! Fed you! Gave you a future, that education of yours. You owe us for life! Have you no heart? Youll take your mother, Ive said it!
What you really wanted was a servant, but you miscalculated. Thats all, dad. I need to feed my son.
Well be out tomorrow, at the doctors and then to my mother-in-laws. So dont bother coming over.
She ended the call, shaking as she wiped away tears.
***
An hour later, someone hammered at the door not ringing, but battering with their fist. Elizabeth hugged her startled, crying child to her.
Elizabeth! Open up! I know youre in there! her brother bellowed. Open up, now!
She went, but left the chain on.
What do you want, Michael?
Whats wrong with you? Dad rings me, in pieces, mums dosed up. Why wont you help? Is it so hard to free up a sofa?
Why dont you free up one of your double bedrooms? Elizabeth replied. Put mum in one and let Angela look after her shell soon be family, after all.”
Are you mad? Michael spluttered. Angelas a model, she wont be emptying bedpans for some old woman!
Her cosmetics cost more than your pram. She cant have that around her! Weve got a wedding for two hundred, a honeymoon in the Maldives! Dont ruin this for me!
Your holiday could pay a nurses wages for a year, Elizabeth pointed out. Stay home, pay for help. Problem solved.
No, the problems you! Youve always been mean. Our parents gave you everything, and you
What did they give me, Michael? A used bike for my sixteenth, when you had a motorbike? A grotty student flat, while you lazed on leather sofas? Have you ever earned anything yourself, other than a packet of cigarettes?
How dare you! Im starting a business. Busy every hour, building my future. Why should I be saddled with a useless invalid?
Elizabeth smiled coldly.
You mean the money dad got selling off his garage and garden? Money meant for mums treatment?
Michael fell silent for a moment, then said, Thats what they wanted. They trust me. But you youre just jealous.
At any rate, tomorrow, mum comes here like it or not. Dadll get a taxi and leave her on your doorstep if you dont open. Clear?
Just try it, Elizabeth replied. Ill call social services and the police. Ill make a report about abandoning a vulnerable adult and see what that does to your business and Angelas precious reputation.
Michael swore and pounded the door, but Elizabeth withdrew.
She put cartoons on for her son to drown out the noise, sat on the floor, hugged her knees.
She told her husband everything, of course and he stood by her.
***
The next day, the telephone rang incessantly. Auntie Valerie, her mothers sister, called, her voice sharp:
How could you, Elizabeth? She gave birth to you! Leaving your own mother to die alone, what sort of daughter are you?
Her godfather called too.
Elizabeth, be reasonable, Michael needs to set up his new life. Havent you got a heart? Daughters are supposed to care for their parents!
Every relative, whod watched for years as Elizabeth got shunted aside, now threw their weight behind Michael, the golden boy.
At first Elizabeth tried to reply. Then she stopped picking up the phone. Needing air, she took her son to the park across town. She left the phone at home.
Her husband announced: Ive got tomorrow off. If they turn up, Ill be ready. Theyll know youre not alone in this!
But that day and the next, neither her father nor Michael arrived. Elizabeth began to relax maybe, at last, shed been left in peace.
***
Then came the day Michael was due his raucous stag party.
Elizabeth was cooking supper, waiting for her husband. When the bell rang, she froze. Surely not again?
Another ring, and she checked the peephole. Standing outside was Angela, Michaels fiancée, oddly dressed in a tracksuit, mascara streaked from tears.
Elizabeth had seen Angela only a handful of times Michael, eager to impress, had introduced her to show the family was respectable.
Elizabeth opened the door.
May I come in? Angela asked softly.
Elizabeth stepped aside.
Whats happened? Michael sent you to convince me? Come through to the kitchen, Ive chips on.
No, Angela shook her head. Ive left him.
Elizabeth paused, kettle in hand.
Why?
I overheard Michael talking to your father. Your mums pretending shes worse than she is, to pressure you into taking her.
They came up with it together your fathers had enough of his poorly wife. The plans just to park her at yours for a week, make space in their flat for Michaels mates for the wedding.
And your father? He doesnt intend to take her back! I felt so disgusted by it all
Is it not as bad as theyre telling me, then?
She really is unwell, but its not as dramatic as all that. This business about her being on her deathbed its all lies.
They want you to take her so they can rent out the flat. Your fathers moved on long ago
Angela started to cry.
I thought Michael was spoilt, but decent. Hes not. He tortured your mums cat yesterday for getting under his feet.
So Ive packed and gone. No wedding.
Angela wept in Elizabeths kitchen for a long time. Her husband, just home from work, left the two of them be Elizabeth comforting the would-be sister, realising now that Angela had far more decency than the groom.
***
Cut off from Angelas money (it turned out most of the wedding cost was being paid by her family), Michael fell into a deep hole.
Those hed borrowed from for wedding gifts started knocking for repayment.
At last, reality dawned for the parents. Not only did Michael refuse to take his mother in, hed secretly taken the paperwork for their flat and tried to use it as security to pay off his debts.
When this came out, Mr. Carter suffered a severe turn with his blood pressure.
Naturally, they begged Elizabeth for help. But she ignored her fathers pleas.
Let them get themselves out of this mess. After all, it was the son they raised themselves…
