In the end she just slammed the door and left, and Alden had no interest in staying in this furnace either, so he moved to follow her out. But before he went, he stopped and spat the words at me through gritted teeth.
"No wonder Dad would rather live with some dancer than stay with you. You're vicious. You're disgusting."
"If I'd known it would come to this, I should've died before I let you take me. I should've gone with Dad, not stayed with a poisonous old hag like you!"
If this was the me from my last life hearing words like that,
I'd probably have screamed about ungrateful little brats, cursed him for being trash who couldn't feel a thing for his own mother, and gotten so worked up I'd have brought on a heart attack.
But this time I only smiled and said,
"There's still time. Your father isn't dead yet. Go find him, why don't you?"
Alden was furious, and he slammed the door on his way out.
For the next several days, they stayed in a hotel and didn't come home at all.
But they kept sending me messages.
【I don't care whether your environmentalism is real or fake. You're going to replace everything in this house, or we are not coming back.】
【Don't think we don't know. You're staying in a hotel yourself.】
【Then let's see who outlasts who. We're not as carefree as you, but a woman your age, without a son and daughter-in-law, is not going to have a good time of it.】
...
A dozen-plus messages a day, from the two of them.
I didn't take any of it seriously.
I just copied the way they used to brush me off, replying every time with a single "1." And the more I replied, the angrier they got, so the things they said got uglier and uglier.
But I wasn't angry at all, and I wasn't in any hurry either, because I still had a few things left to sell!
Soon enough,
I got a call from Alden.
"Where's my car? What did you do with my car and Belinda's?"
7:
I paused.
Then, playing dumb, I said,
"Your cars? You bought cars?"
"If your cars are gone, call the police. What are you calling me for?"
Alden's voice practically caught fire.
"Quit the act."
"I'm talking about the two cars you bought for us!"
"I already checked the security footage. You brought people and drove them off yourself."
I nodded as if it had just dawned on me.
"Oh, you mean the ones I bought a while back, the ones registered under my name. And then after you found out, you two made up some story about your own car breaking down, sold your own cars, and started driving those two around. Those?"
Alden ground out through his teeth,
"Yes!"
I said it lightly.
"But those two are gas cars!"
"Didn't you know? Oil is a resource. It's nonrenewable. Once it's used up, it's gone!"
"So the way I see it, being green can't just be talk. Gas-guzzlers like that will drain the world dry, so I sold those too!"
They'd already guessed I would say exactly that.
And yet, on the other end of the line, Belinda and Alden were still beside themselves.
"Have you actually gone insane?"
"The cars may be in your name, but we're the ones who actually use them. Where do you get off selling them without a single word to us?"
I sounded even more baffled.
"Huh, I was supposed to tell you?"
"The used-car dealer said as long as you've got the purchase invoice and the registration, you can sell it."
"Though I don't really get the two of you. I don't understand the environment, but you do. You knew to tell me not to run the AC. How is it you didn't know gas cars can't be driven?"
They didn't answer me. Instead, there was a pounding on the door.
"Open up, we'll talk about this face to face!"
I knew the two of them were about to lose their minds, but I didn't take it seriously at all. I just sighed.
"Can't open it."
"Because that house has been sold too."
"Oh, and I'd advise you not to go banging on other people's doors. I hear the folks there have a bit of a mental...."
Before I could finish,
two shrieks came from the other side.
