Coffin Money - 3

Day 5 at the hospital

“Mom, I brought you some chicken noodle soup Anna made for you,” David said as he entered his mother’s room.

“Tell your wife not to bother,” Sarah said grumpily and tightened her lips. She always referred to Anna as “your wife” or “David’s wife” as if the woman had no name of her own and was defined only by the marriage to her son.

“Mom, please don’t be like that,” David responded, taking the soup out of the thermal bag. “It’s still warm. Anna made it just for you, as the doctor recommended.”

“Well, she is a horrible cook. Always has been, why would it be better now?”

“You know it’s not true. Anna is a great cook!”

“No, she is not! All her dishes are dry and tasteless.”

“Just because she doesn’t deep fry everything like you do, mom, it doesn’t mean it’s tasteless. She puts lots of good spices in her soups.”

“I hate soups! They never fill me up, and you know it. I’ll be hungry in 10 minutes!” Sarah said, nonetheless enjoying the smell of the soup.

“She also made you some steamed salmon with vegetables.”

“Steamed fish! What do I have, stomach cancer?”

Good thing David was not facing Sarah at the moment, otherwise she could probably notice how pale he became in his face. Collecting himself, he responded, “Salmon is a fatty fish, good alternative to meat, and it will be easy on your stomach pain.”

“I have no more pain! I want to go home!”

“You have no pain because they give you painkillers, mother.”

“Well, tell them to give those painkillers to me and I will just go home!” Sarah said angrily and tried to jump out of bed, as if to demonstrate that she can go home. Sharp pain pierced her stomach, she bent and sat on the bed.

“See, mother, it’s not all gone!” David said, helping Sarah to lie down on the bed. “They do need to keep you here longer, to figure out the treatment.”

He fixed her pillow so that Sarah could sit more comfortably. “How about that soup now?”

“I’ll have just a little,” Sarah said and ate a whole big bowl. She always ate quickly, as if afraid that someone would take her food away. David thought that it was because she was a child of World War II from a poor family, perpetually hungry, as she often told him.

“Now give me that fish!” she ordered David. “You know I’ll still be hungry after that, right?”

“Of course, mother, but please eat as much as you can.”

“They all hate me here, you know?” Sarah said, gobbling up the fish in big bites.

“Who?”

“Everyone: the doctor, the nurses, they all hate me.”

“Why do you say so?”

“Well, they don’t come when I call, never answer any of my questions, and the doctor thinks I’m crazy.”

“Are you treating them well, mother? You know it’s a two-way road: if you want others to treat you well, treat them the way you want to be treated.”

“Pfft, don’t spew this crap on me now. It’s their job, to treat me well. I owe them nothing, I’m their patient. They want to kill me, you know? I need to tell you where I keep the coffin money.”

“There you go again, with your coffin money, mother. If you die, we’ll be able to bury you without your coffin money.”

“I don’t want a penny from your wife! She’s been always after your money, and one day she will kill you too!”

“Oh c’mon, mother, I have nothing in my name and you know it! My wife has a successful business and her own house. I live there, remember? Had it not been for Anna, I’d probably have died already of alcoholism. She pushed me to get a job and quit drinking. She makes me a better person.”

“Well, you will have my apartment and everything I own when I die. You just wait, she’ll first make you sell everything, take it, and then kick you out!”

“Oh, mother, I’m so tired of this! Anna doesn’t need anything of yours or mine. She makes more money in a month than I do in a year! You should be happy that your son found an independent woman who is capable of supporting her entire family.”

“So, you are a gigolo then, a kept man?” Sarah chuckled as she was eating the last piece of fish.

“Oh, for God’s sake, mother, we love each other! Not everything in the world is about the money and possessions.”

“What’s there to love in you?”

“Beats me,” David said, making himself comfortable to sit with Sarah until she falls asleep…

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