Marina was walking home from work, gripping the envelope with her official promotion letter. Her heart was pounding so hard it felt like people on the sidewalk might hear it. The new title: Director of Business Development.
Salary—about $12,000 a month after adaptation for a middle-class American frame of reference. She had read the letter at least twenty times already and still could hardly believe it. The first person she called was her mother.
“Mom, can you believe it? I got promoted!” Marina blurted out the second her mother picked up. “Twelve grand a month!”
But instead of excited congratulations, there was silence on the line. “Mom? Did you hear me?” “I heard you, sweetheart,” her mother said in a calm voice—too calm.
“I’m very happy for you. But before you tell Ethan and Linda, I want to give you one piece of advice.” “What advice?” Marina stopped on the sidewalk and frowned.
“Tell them you got laid off.” “Mom, are you serious?” “Listen to me carefully, Marina. I know what I’m saying.
Tell them your position was eliminated, that you’re out of work now. Then watch what happens. Just trust me.
One day. Just one day. And you’ll understand everything.”
Marina wanted to argue, but there was something in her mother’s voice that made her stop. Her mother never gave foolish advice. After forty years of marriage, she understood people better than most therapists.
“Okay,” Marina said slowly. “I’ll do what you say, but afterward you’re explaining this to me.” “I won’t have to.
You’ll see for yourself.” When Marina walked into the condo, Ethan was on the couch with his phone, and her mother-in-law, Linda, was in the kitchen fussing with something. For the last six months, Linda had been living with them “temporarily” while work was being done on her townhouse.
The work had been finished a long time ago, but Linda had shown no sign of moving out. “Hey,” Marina said, hanging up her bag and slipping off her shoes. “I need to tell you both something.”
Ethan looked up from his screen. Linda came out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a dish towel. “What happened?” her husband asked, narrowing his eyes.
Marina took a deep breath, remembering her mother’s words. “I got laid off today. Company downsizing.”
Silence fell. Ethan slowly set down his phone. Linda froze with the towel in her hands.
“Laid off?” Ethan repeated. “For real?”
“For real. Starting tomorrow, I’m unemployed.” “Oh dear,” Linda said, lowering herself into a chair.
“Well, there it is. I told you that company wasn’t stable.” “Did you get severance?” Ethan asked quickly.
“Did they give you anything?” “One paycheck. About $1,500,” Marina lied, watching their reactions closely. Something flashed in her husband’s eyes.
Something that made her tense inside. “I see,” he said with a nod. “Well, you’ll find something else.”
“Of course you will,” Linda chimed in, though there wasn’t an ounce of warmth in her voice. “Though at your age, and with your background, the job market isn’t exactly easy.” Marina was thirty-two.
She had two degrees and eight years of experience at one of the largest companies in the region. “I’m thirty-two, Linda, not fifty-two,” she said dryly. “I’m just being realistic,” her mother-in-law replied with a shrug.
“You may need to look for something simpler now. Maybe an administrative job somewhere?” Ethan said nothing.
He went back to his phone, but Marina noticed how tense his shoulders were, how his finger kept tapping the screen. The evening passed in a strange atmosphere. At dinner, Linda sighed and shook her head, throwing meaningful looks now and then.
Ethan was unusually quiet. When they went to bed, he put an arm around Marina. “Don’t worry,” he said. “We’ll manage somehow.
My paycheck will cover the basics.” He made about $1,000 a month in this adapted version. Marina had been making more, and her income covered most of the household expenses.
“Thanks,” she whispered, feeling something tighten in her chest. The next morning Marina woke to muffled voices in the kitchen. She looked at the clock. It was only seven.
Normally Ethan was still asleep at that hour. She got up quietly and moved toward the bedroom door. “Honestly, Mom, I’ve been meaning to say this for a while,” Ethan was saying.
“Maybe it’s for the best that she got laid off. She can stay home now and actually take care of the house. She’s always at work, never makes a proper dinner, and the place is always a mess.”
“I’ve been telling you that,” Linda said, suddenly energized. “A woman should be at home. I spent my whole life taking care of your father, and we had a strong family.”
“Exactly. But Marina and all her ambition. Career, career, career. What about the home? What about her husband?”
