After ordering a coffee at a restaurant at the end of a long workday, Anna got a text from her mother-in-law. “Come straight to my place after work. I need all the floors mopped before guests arrive. And if you don’t, I’ll throw you out of the house,” it read.
Anna stared at the message, set her phone aside, and smiled to herself. Her mother-in-law had no idea that the day before, Anna had made a major decision. But that part comes later. The server set down her cappuccino, and Anna gave her a grateful nod.
Her hands were still trembling a little, but not from fear of another demand from Galina Petrovna. It was all she could do not to laugh. She read the message again, savoring every word. The threat to throw her out of the house had been delivered, as usual, with all the grace of a brick through a window.
The last three years of her life had turned into an endless string of orders like this. Her mother-in-law believed that once Anna married her precious son Igor, she was now expected to serve the whole family. She was supposed to mop floors, cook dinner for ten, babysit her husband’s nieces and nephews, and drive her mother-in-law around town.
And all of that was on top of her own full-time job at an ad agency, where Anna worked as a project manager. Galina Petrovna loved to say that Anna didn’t work nearly as hard as her son did. She called Anna’s job “paper pushing” and insisted that the only real money in the family came from Igor.
The fact that Anna earned almost as much as her engineer husband was something her mother-in-law conveniently ignored. So did the fact that Anna paid for most of what the household actually needed, while her husband spent his money on hobbies. Anna took a sip of coffee and leaned back in the soft chair.
The restaurant was warm and comfortable, with quiet music drifting from the speakers. Outside, a light rain tapped at the windows, and for the first time all day she could finally relax after a presentation that had gone beautifully. The client loved it, her boss had promised a bonus, and by any reasonable standard, it had been a very good day.
It would have been an even better one if not for that latest outrageous text. Her phone buzzed again. “What, are you deaf? I’m waiting for an answer!” Her mother-in-law wrote that guests were coming at seven, her back was acting up, and she couldn’t mop the floors herself.
She added that Igor had told her Anna was free after six, so there was plenty of time. Anna smirked when she realized her husband had once again dutifully reported her schedule to his mother. He had always remained an obedient son who couldn’t say no to her, and that was exactly why their marriage had been slowly circling the drain.
She quickly typed back: “Galina Petrovna, I already have plans tonight. I won’t be able to come.” The reply came almost instantly. Her mother-in-law ranted about how Anna had no business having “plans,” declared that helping family was her duty, and called her an ungrateful selfish woman.
Galina Petrovna wrote that her son worked himself to the bone while his wife wouldn’t even mop a floor. She demanded Anna come over immediately or she would call Igor and tell him what a terrible wife he had. In the past, messages like that would have sent Anna straight into a panic…
