Alright, my dear guestshave you had enough to eat? Enough to drink? Did I serve you well? Emily asked, rising to the head of the long dining table.
Yes, sister, Brian said with a satisfied grin, youre always on top of things!
Exactly, a hundred percent! Charlotte chimed in. We both learned to cook from mum, but Ive never managed anything as tasty as this. No wonder I always ask you to cater my parties!
Mum, giggled Grace, and I still cant get out of the gym! Yet I couldnt stop myself.
Mom, Ill send you a wife so you can teach her to cook, Andrew added with a nod.
Thats why I married you, Victor blurted, belching contentedly. Sorry about that!
Consider it done, Emily smiled broadly. Then, her smile faded for a heartbeat, and she announced, Now, my beloved family, youre all out of my house!
It was the last supper she had ever prepared for them, the final time she would bend over the stove for them. She seized the massive, polished salad bowl and, with a wild laugh, hurled it across the floor.
Enough, little ones! The dancings over, she declared with a cruel grin. I wont let anyone ride on my back againespecially you lot!
A heavy silence settled over the table, the guests frozen in shock. No one expected such a move from Emily, the everhelpful, everpatient, everobedient hostess.
Are you mad? Victor asked, only to receive a sharp slap from his wife.
Call an ambulance, shes having a mental break! Charlotte shouted.
Emily lifted the empty wine decanter and warned, Whoever reaches for the phone will get a taste of it! She smiled sweetly. Why are you all so still? Run, my insatiable little gremlins!
Emily! Brian commanded sternly. Im speaking as your older brothercalm down and pull yourself together!
No! Emily replied, grinning. Im done serving you! I wont please you any longer, and I wont rush about because you cant do anything yourself! Enough!
Whats got you so riled? Victor asked, rubbing his reddened cheek. Everything was fine!
I didnt gather you here for nothing, Emily said, plopping onto a chair and leaning back. Your audacity has crossed every lineespecially these days. She paused, her eyes cold. Your last little protest showed me just how bold youve become. I refuse to see you again.
We didnt do anything, Andrew muttered.
Exactly, my son! Victor replied, smiling.
***
People say you must live life the right way, and you cant argue with that. But what does right even mean? Everyone has their own answer.
Emily had spent fortyfive years convinced shed lived correctly. At worst, she could not blame herself. She was the third child, with an older brother and a sister to keep her company. Her parents were pleased, she adored her brother, and her sister never quite got on her nerves. She finished school, got a job, never reached for the stars but never lowered herself either.
She married, bore two children, was a devoted wife, supportive of her husband, never quarrelling without cause. She was a good mother, raised her kids, taught them, and let them go. Even as an adult she kept in touch with her brother and sisterhelping, celebrating, sharing troubles, sharing joys. People called her kind, thoughtful, clever, understanding.
So she believed shed lived properlyuntil, at fortyfive, she felt abandoned in the loneliest of moments.
***
Emily Thompson, the doctor said after lunch, all your tests are back, no contraindications. Shall we schedule the operation?
Of course, doctor, Emily replied sadly, the decisions already made.
I understand, the doctor noted, seeing her downcast mood, but you never know
Book it, Emily waved a hand. The sooner we start, the sooner it ends.
Very well, the doctor wrote in her notes. Youll have dinner tonight, fast tomorrow, and the operation the day after.
He turned to the neighboring patient. Catherine, your results need further review.
Alright, Dr. Oliver, Catherine said.
When the doctor left, he asked Emily, Why so gloomy? Afraid of the surgery?
Partly, Emily nodded. My husband She glanced at her phone.
My husband left me with songs, Catherine chuckled. I reckon the kids will go to their mother, and hell throw a party for himself! No matter, hell sort it out later. Maybe hes already on a break?
According to the last voicemail, hes standing tall, Emily pursed her lips. He knows Im having an operation, yet hes out drinking with friends!
Ah, Catherine waved her hand, theyre all like thatcats at home, mice dancing in the garden.
It still hurts, Emily said. Uterus removal is serious. A little support would mean the world. I told him Im scared and need him now, but after I left, he sent two short messages and then nothing!
Catherine, a decade younger, lacked the experience to soothe Emily, and the conversation faded on its own.
Emily skipped dinner, taking nothing with her, knowing shed need to fast before surgery. She lay quiet, watching the ceiling. A memory driftedVince broke his leg in two places at work, and she visited him daily, bringing food, clean clothes, staying late. Shed taken leave to help him, like a squirrel on a wheel, never refusing her husband any task: water, feeding, washing, shaving, grooming.
Why does he treat me like this? Emily asked when Catherine returned from dinner.
Not just yours, Catherine replied with a smile. Everyones the sameconsumers! In school they must teach them how to sit on a ladys lap, I suppose. Ive pushed my husband for three years, found him a fatter job through friends, yet he never likes it. He only works when I threaten divorce and child support!
My husband works, Emily said.
Your husband has his own whims, Catherine waved her hands. All the sameexploiters! If you dont tie them down, theyll sit on your neck, tap your toes, and run off. Thats what Ive learned!
Emily began to think her husband was like cheese in butter, soft in cream, while she was stuck on his back paws.
Maybe Im overreacting? Emily asked. Im nervous about the operation, maybe Im just overthinking.
Both can coexist, Catherine said. The fact you hear no kind words from him is obvious! My husband, however, sends fruit juices, calls, heart emojis every day.
Emily turned away, pulling the blanket over her head.
***
Going hungry for a whole day, even when you need it, is brutal. Emily tried to distract herself with chat, but the morning tests kept pulling Catherine away in short bursts.
Phone in hand, Emily thought, Relatives wont refuse a chat to pass the time. Her son Andrew didnt answer, only sent a message saying hed call back. Her daughter Grace missed two calls, then her number became unavailable.
Good kids, Emily murmured, bewildered.
They dont pick up? Catherine asked between her own tests.
Imagine that! Emily replied. Is it really that hard to answer mum?
Adults?
Yes, theyre living on their own now.
Fine, mum, forget them! Youll only hear from them when you need something. Like fledgling birds that have left the nest, only the wind will carry them back.
My eldest, sixteen, no longer cares about me. If they live apart, parents become unnecessaryjust show up for the funeral!
No, no, we have a wonderful relationship! Emily insisted.
Then why dont they answer?
Catherine ran off, and Emily fell into thought. Is it really that hard to find a minute to talk to your mother? Most of their recent visits were about moneynothing about a loan, just how much they need.
It was unbearably sad. Catherine summed it up: The fledglings have flown. Now they live their own lives, remembering parents only when they need something.
Emily tried calling her husband again. No answer. She left a message that stayed unread.
Ah, Victor! she muttered. If only youd stop slacking!
Late in the evening he finally texted, Where are our savings? Salarys gone, nothing to live on!
His salary had actually arrived three days earlier.
Nevertheless! Emily thought, A feast on a mountain, wine like a river! She didnt reply. If he had hinted even a little concern, she might have spoken, but she let him sort it out himself.
Brian answered a call but said he was busy and hung up.
So busy, Emily said. Catherine wasnt there, so no reply came. Emily remembered the halfyear shed lived in two houses after Brians wife left him, abandoning their kids. She had tended those children, been a mother, a cook, a cleaner, everything, until Brian found a new partner.
Shed also mediated his conflictshe demanded love for his kids, she wanted love for hers, and anyone elses love seemed intrusive.
For a year and a half I tried to keep the peace, and not a single word of gratitude came. And now hes busy again. When Emily called back that night, only a short buzz and a click.
Thanks, brother, for the black list! she muttered. He also knew about her upcoming operation. When he asked to take the kids for a month, Emily refused, citing the surgery.
Charlotte gave Emily only five minutes, barely asking about health:
When will you be able? My husbands relativesabout ten peopleare coming. Well put them in a hotel, but we need to feed them at home, big time! Youre the only hope.
I dont know, Charlotte, Emily replied. The operation is tough. Two to three weeks in hospital, then weeks of recovery. Doctors say up to fifty days.
No, no, sister! Things dont work like that! You must be back in three weeks, like a marching bandsharp as a bayonet! Its my husbands sidefolk! Theyre more important than anyone else!
Charlotte, Im scared, Emily whispered.
Come on, stop being a drama queen! Chickchirp and off to hell! I have to run!
It stung. What if the operation is straightforward? Complications could happen! Who knows! Emily said, staring at her phone. I need a chef! Nearly fifty, and Ive never learned to cook properly!
Charlotte constantly called her younger sister to cater her guestscolleagues, husbands friends, any celebration. Emily spent days away from the stove, yet never received an invitation to sit at the table.
Whats that? Its a strangers party! Charlotte snapped. You never counted that when you prepared for them.
The operation went without incident, but the hospital kept Emily for another two weeks. She refused to call anyone, waiting for someone to remember her. No one didnot husband, not children, not brother, not sister.
She thought a lot, until a decisive thought came.
Emily, what nonsense are you spouting? Brian protested. Did they remove part of your brain with the uterus?
And you remembered! Emily laughed. I thought no one would ever recall me!
She rose again to the head of the table.
Listen, my dear relatives! Ive lain in hospital for two weeks, and not a single soul worried about me or asked how Im doing! No brother who loves me more than his new mother, no sister who used me as a free cook all my life, no beloved husband who squandered both his salary and our savings wed been putting away for a cottage, no dear children I gave life tonone even called!
A hushed outrage hung over the table.
Ive spent my whole life ready to do whatever you needed. And in the one moment I needed even a simple act of participation, you were nowhere!
I figured that if I could endure this alone, I could manage on my own. I would no longer be a runnergirl for your errands.
She addressed each one in turn:
Vince, divorce, no more talks! Get out of my flat!
Children, live your lives! If you need help, go to dad! Youve lost your mother already!
And you, Brian and Charlotte, Ill no longer see you! Hire nannies and cooks elsewhere! Enough!
Are you mad? How can you be normal? relatives shouted.
All rose together, forming a line, marching to the far corners of her life. I finally want to live for myself, not for you!
Boom!
Alone in the empty house, Emily sat at the cleared table and said, I overreacted a bit, she glanced at the shattered salad bowl, but Ill start a new life with a new bowl.
