The call came late at night. My mother’s voice sounded different than usual—without the usual reproaches. There was something else on the other end of the line.
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— Son, our card is blocked. We’re already in Moscow. We’re arriving.
Maxime placed the phone on the table. They would be here in twenty minutes. He didn’t ask why they had come unannounced. He wasn’t interested in where they planned to sleep. He simply went to the window and stood there for a long time, watching the city lights.
He knew why the card was blocked. He was the one who had blocked it two months earlier, that very evening when his mother had told him,
« We don’t need you here. You’re a stranger. »
So, without a word, he had pressed a few buttons in the bank’s app. He had cut off what he had been willingly giving away for years.
And now, here they are.
Oksana, for her part, had always been there. She lived in the building next door, visited her parents every day, bought bread, and accompanied them to the doctor. Maxime, on the other hand, called on weekends, came to see them once every two months, and gave them money on a separate card—not from their pension, no less. Every single month, without fail.
But for Vera Ivanovna, that didn’t matter.
« Oksana washed my windows yesterday, » her mother said on the phone, without even saying hello. « And when was the last time you came?
» « Mom, I came by last week.
» « She’s here every day. And you’re over there in your Moscow. »
His father, Semion Pavlovitch, always remained silent. He sat in his armchair in front of the TV and nodded his head.
Maxime had gotten used to it. He no longer argued. The roles had been divided as follows: he gave the money, Oksana gave her presence. He accepted it.
Until the day Oksana proposed a plan.
“Listen, Vitya and I need a loan,” she told their parents during dinner. Maxime called at that moment, and his mother put it on speakerphone. “We want to buy a house in an eco-friendly neighborhood so you can come live there. The fresh air will do Mom good. But the loan is important; we need collateral. Put the apartment in my name; it’ll be approved faster.
” “Why?” Maxime couldn’t hold back on the phone.
His mother jumped, as if she had forgotten he was listening.
« Ah, Maxime… You don’t understand. It’s for us, for me and your father, for our health.
» « Mom, what does that have to do with putting the apartment in her name? »
« Oksana knows what she’s doing. She’s here, she knows the situation.
» « Dad, and what do you think? »
The father fell silent. Then, in a low voice, he replied:
— Oksana is right. She knows better than we do.
Maxime closed his eyes.
“Don’t do that. This is your only apartment.
” “Are you going to teach us about life?” her mother’s voice sharpened. “You sit over there, and Oksana dedicates herself to us every day! She’s the one who takes care of us!
” “I send you money every month…
” “Money?” Vera Ivanovna interrupted. “Yes, you send it. So what? Oksana puts her whole heart into it, and you just make a transfer!”
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