I Had To Pay The Balance

My mother-in-law, Mabel Grath, always liked me to arrange family trips.

But she only transferred a small fraction of the cost. She called it a “deposit.”

“I’m just following what you young people do with deposits. It’s not like I’m going to skip out on the rest.”

After the trip, however, she never mentioned the rest of the payment again.

I did not really mind. I quietly paid out of my own pocket for five-star hotels and luxury meals every time.

Then one day, my husband’s sister, Marlene Grath, dropped a sarcastic comment in the family group chat.

“Noelle Frost loves playing travel agent with my mom’s retirement money.

“For all we know, she’s signing us up for cut-rate shopping tours and skimming the kickbacks.”

Mabel replied with a smirking emoji. It seemed she was silently agreeing with her daughter.

My heart sank.

Over the years, I had taken them on trips all over the country and abroad. I had covered at least 100,000 dollars out of my own pocket.

Yet, I still ended up looking like the one taking advantage of them.

Mabel transferred four hundred dollars to me again and asked me to arrange a seven-day tour to Erope.

So, I went ahead and booked them a one-day farm stay just outside the city.

Above the iron gate hung a few, crooked, handwritten words.

[Little Baris Ecological Farm]

My mother-in-law, Mabel Grath, and the others looked displeased.

My sister-in-law, Marlene Grath, pointed at the chicken droppings all over the ground and shrieked, “Where’s my Aiffel Tower?! Where’s my Camps-Elysees?!”

I pointed at a pointed tower-like object welded from scrap steel bars in the middle of the yard.

“See that? That’s the tower.”

As for the avenue, I pointed at the muddy path. “This is the eco-avenue.”

Mabel’s expression darkened. But she held back from looking bad in front of everyone else.

She forced out a dry laugh and looked at me sharply. She said, “Noelle Frost, did you forget to explain things to the driver? We were supposed to be going to the airport to fly to Erope. How did we end up here?”

My husband’s aunt, Karen Grath, who had been silent, chimed in, “Exactly! Weren’t we supposed to go to Erope? How did we end up in the middle of nowhere?”

I glanced at Karen and sneered inwardly.

For this New Year’s trip, Mabel had specifically invited Shaun Grath, her younger brother, and his family to show off to.

Six people were traveling in total.

She always loved putting on airs as an intellectual in front of Shaun and Karen. She loved mocking them for being ill-educated.

She also pretended to be generous by offering to cover all the expenses. Her face beamed with smugness.

“See, this is why education is so great. My pension alone is enough to take the whole family abroad several times over. Treating you to a trip is nothing at all!”

In reality, her monthly pension of $800 was not even enough to buy plane tickets for six people.

Previously, she contributed a small fraction of the cost.

I silently covered the rest to uphold her image.

This time, too, she clearly thought I would play along.

“Mabel, the money you gave me is only enough to visit this place,” I said calmly.

Mabel’s face soured.

She suppressed her anger and asked, “What do you mean? I gave you so much money, and you brought us to a dump like this?”

I sneered. “I don’t think you understand what ‘so much money’ means. You only sent me $400 total. You really think that’s enough to get us out of the country?”

“Four hundred dollars?!” Karen’s eyes went wide. She covered her mouth dramatically.

“Mabel, didn’t you say in the family chat that this was supposed to be a luxury Eropean trip? $400 wouldn’t even cover our plane tickets!”

A flash of panic flickered in Mabel’s eyes. She shot me a glare.

Then, she quickly regained her composure.

With teary eyes, she confronted me.

“Noelle, I trusted you! That’s why I sent you the money and let you handle everything. But I never expected this! What did you do with all the money?”

Marlene jumped in.

“Did you pocket it yourself? Did you drag us out here on purpose?

“Noelle, don’t be so greedy! We looked the other way when you used to skim a little off the top. But this is too much! You took a fortune meant for an Eropean trip and booked us a farm stay instead!”