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On the hospital bed, my mother froze.
Her hands shook like a sieve.
Beside her, my father stood there too, his face burning with humiliation, jaw clenched, taking it.
We hadn't had much money back then.
My father farmed the land. My mother sold vegetables at market.
But even so, they never let me go hungry, never let me wear rags, and they put me through college all the way.
This silver lock was the only thing my mother had left worth giving.
“Jayden, let Mommy tell you something. Never take anything from poor people, because a poor person's money is their whole life.”
Sabina crouched down beside our son and said it low, as if she were keeping her voice down.
But everyone in the room heard it.
“Your daddy may have made something of himself, but that dirt-poor stink is in your grandparents' bones. They'll never scrub it out as long as they live.”
“Your grandmother especially. She's about to die, and all she's got to leave you is this one broken silver lock.”
She said it for my mother to hear.
My mother's eyes trembled. She lifted a hand and wiped the tears from the corners.
“It's my fault…… I didn't think it through. But your father and I never managed to save anything our whole lives. This really is the last bit of my heart I have to give……”
And then she covered her mouth and started coughing, hard.
The truth was, it wasn't that my parents never saved anything.
It was that every cent they saved had gone to pay for Sabina's treatment.
My junior year of college, Sabina was diagnosed with kidney disease and lay in that hospital with no one.
Her parents made excuses about being too busy with work to come. I was the one who stayed by her side.
The doctor kept coming to press us about the bills.
She said she didn't want to be treated anymore. I hid in the stairwell and called my parents, crying.
When they understood the situation, they went quiet for a long moment, then told me, firm:
“Treat her.”
“Never mind that she's your girlfriend. Even if she were only your classmate, a girl in a spot that pitiful, if we can help her we help her.”
The next day, four hundred thousand landed in my account.
Half a lifetime of my parents' savings.
And it was that money that pulled Sabina back from the edge of death.
My parents didn't want her carrying the guilt, so they wouldn't let me tell her where the money had come from.
“Tell her and you put the poor girl over a fire. If she ever stops loving you and wants to break it off, she won't dare.”
“She never asked us for it. We did this because we wanted to. You can't use this money to hold a girl's whole life hostage.”
It all came flooding back.
My chest felt heavy as stone.
My mother was coughing so violently that I couldn't stop myself. I rushed over and patted her back.
Uncle Gerald's oldest grandson held out a cut slice of watermelon to my son.
“It's hot. Have some watermelon, it'll cool you off.”
My son reached out and took it. The next second Sabina shrieked and slapped it out of his hands.
“Don't eat that!”
“It'll give you diarrhea!”
As she said it, she tore open a disinfecting wipe and carefully cleaned our son's hands.
At the same time, she cut a disgusted look at Uncle Gerald's oldest grandson.
“Look how filthy he is, all over. Who knows how many germs he's carrying. Don't play with him.”
Uncle Gerald stepped forward and pulled the frightened boy behind him.
“It's one thing to look down on us. Do you really have to treat a child this way?”
“Michael, we only came to your family's home because your mother is ill. Since we're so unwelcome, we'll go.”
“But your mother doesn't have much time left. I hope you won't leave her with regrets.”
And with that, he took his grandson by the hand and left.
I was about to go after them when my mother gripped my arm and held on:
“Son, I'll stay away from Jayden. Help me fasten this silver lock on him for me.”
