My Younger Brother Is Sick, but My Mother Is Using His Life-Saving Money to Gamble with My Uncle

My mother stuffed the money my father had left behind—money meant for his life-saving treatment—into my uncle's hands, saying it was to pay off his gambling debts. I watched her hand over the passbook, not lunging at it like I had in my past life. In that life, I clung tightly to my mother's arm, crying and shouting that this was money my father had risked his life for, money for my brother's medical treatment. My mother shook me off, and my uncle seized the opportunity to snatch the passbook, turning and heading straight to the casino. Later, my brother's illness worsened, and he didn't survive that winter. But my mother always cried to me, "If you and your uncle hadn't had such a falling out, he might have still thought of family ties and lent us some money… You've blocked our last resort."