While cooking in the kitchen, the ears I’d been deaf with for half my life suddenly began to hear again.
Before I could tell my family the good news, I heard my son-in-law’s voice ring out clearly from the living room.
“When is your mom leaving? Tomorrow’s my mom’s birthday, and she can’t stand country folk. They stink.”
My hand jerked. The bowl hit the floor, and the freshly cooked hot soup splashed onto my feet, burning like fire.
Hearing the commotion, my daughter signed to ask if I was all right, then crouched down to help me clean up the shards.
My heart warmed. At least my daughter had a good heart.
Worried she might cut herself, I hurriedly told her to get up. But before I could feel happy for even a second, I heard her say with disgust,
“It’s bad enough that Mom’s hearing-impaired. Now she can’t even manage with her hands and feet. When she gets older, she’ll just be a burden. Once I find an excuse to send her back to the old family home, she can stay there. Yangyang’s grown up anyway, so we don’t need her to look after him anymore.”
“I don’t want to wait on your mom, but first we need to coax her into selling the house back home so we can buy a new car. I’d be embarrassed to drive this one over to pick up my mom.”
I froze in place as tears streamed from my cloudy eyes.
I never imagined that after working tirelessly for this family for seven years, I’d end up with nothing to show for it.
Once they’d used me up, they were ready to kick me to the curb.
I gave a cold laugh. I could leave, but before I did, I had a “grand gift” to give them.
