It started with Abby, late into the night. It was roughly 11:30pm when her mother returned home from work. Abby’s mother, Britani, usually sing on her walk from the car to the hallway to the apartment. Her singing doesn’t stop until after she eaten, washed, and fell onto the bed in slumber. Yet, when she opened the door, her singing was halt when she saw Abby sitting on one of the worn out kitchen chairs that her ex-husband had gotten when they were still happy.
Britani questioned her child who greeted her with a happy face, because she raise this child, she knew what was underneath the happy greeting. In her life, every happy exchange was because there’s something needed, wanted, from her. She didn’t bat around the bush as she asked her child what her child needed to stay up so late, even though it was a weekday. Abby bat around the bush before telling her mother that she’s in need of $15.
Britani stared at her child who nonetheless looked, and now sounded, like her ex-husband. He was the only man who made Britani blind and blindly in love with him, Britani give up almost half of her life to be with him just to have him ripe her heart out and run away. It was more than $15 that he wanted and took. It was way more than $15. And so she questioned her daughter.
Why $15? What did she need the money? She wanted to ask, will $15 save your life? Will $15 bring you happiness? But her daughter is after all only nine years old and wouldn’t even understand. But $15 being requested from her young daughter baffled her more. Then she questioned herself, will giving $15 redeem her mistakes in life?
Abby bite her lip and knew these questions were coming even before she waited for her mother. She took a deep breath and told her mother the truth. What use was there to lie? Her mother knew almost everything about her, even the things she didn’t know yet. Her mother knew her favorite food and cooks them for her and her sibling whenever she wasn’t so busy. Her mother knew how to make her and her sibling happy even when they are not sad. In all of her life, her mother was like God, the God who keeps them fed, clothed, and happy. There was no lying to the God that keeps her alive.
Abby told her mother the truth: Colten had given her $15 so she can buy him candy from her school candy fundraising. However, the $15 didn’t belong to him, but his mother. Now his mother is demanding the $15 back because she didn’t actually give it to Colten, Colten had taken it from his mother’s room on a work day.
Britani calmed down and reassured her panicking daughter that she will deal with it tomorrow, for Colten’s mother, Darlene, was their cousin who live in the upstairs apartment. She ushered her daughter to sleep so she will be able to wake up at six in the morning to get ready and catch the bus by seven.
After everything was quiet again, Britani sing to herself again. Although she planned on giving back the $15, she was still furious. Her daughter’s face was of a scared child, as if Darlene had yell at her. Although she had yell at her children when she reached her peak, she was the mother so it wasn’t out of place. But to have another person who yelled at her own children was a different thing. Darlene had her own children, she shouldn’t be yelling at other’s children, especially if it was her child who did the theft act.
Then her singing stopped when she remembered the $15 she had set on top of the highest container on her high desk. She had saw a dress that was $15 and wanted to treat herself to that beautiful dress after she reach her goal of weighing 110 pounds. She now weighted only 113 pounds and suddenly remembered the dress. Britani reached up to the top of the container but her hand met air. There was nothing there. Now she wasn’t just furious anymore.
After all of her children walked out the house to go catch their bus, Britani waited by Darlene’s apartment door. She knew Darlene was coming back soon from dropping her son off at his bus stop, even though that bus stop was not even a street up from her children’s own bus stop. Her furry had lessen overnight and lessen more as she watched her youngest daughter of one and a half year old play with her doll. She brought her daughter because she knew her daughter can make her happy just as her daughter’s father, Ethan, can make her happy. Even though Ethan haven’t proposed to her yet, in her heart she knew a wedding was coming for them. Ethan was coming to her apartment today as he promised.
Darlene’s voice sounded cheery as she greeted the other neighbors. When she saw Britani, her cheeriness diminished. She walked to her cousin and greeted her. Like always, her cousin doesn’t bat around the bush and brought up the topic. However, instead of wanting to know why Darlene needed her $15 back, Britani was demanding to know where the $15 came from. This shocked Darlene. Darlene was a hard working person who works at a clinic job and has four children, her oldest a five years old and her youngest a one and a half year old. Of course the $15 came from her job, and her husband’s hard work. It wasn’t like she was husbandless and relying on child support.
However, Darlene doesn’t say any of her judgments. She calmly told Britani that her son had taken her $15 to give to Abby to buy candy and now she needs it back. $15 was not a small amount and it was the money saved to pay back her friend who she owned $15 to. Then Britani said something that was outrageous to Darlene. So she stared at her cousin in shock that her cousin can think of such inappropriate acts from her eldest son of only five years.
Darlene told Britani to not assume such things. Britani still didn’t let down and asked Darlene to check where she had store her $15. Darlene knew Britani was furious about her missing $15 but it wasn’t her fault. She wasn’t the one with five children with the oldest being of age 15 years old and the youngest seven years not. Darlene eyed the little girl beside Britani, of course she didn’t add the little girl into Britani’s pool of children; she was a bastard child after all. Her father was a married man to three other wives, her mother was a person of no shame to still have the man hang around her every now and then. Any of those people could have taken Britani’s $15, but Darlene wants her $15 back no matter or what.
When there was no compromise, the early conversation turned into a fiery argument. Darlene’s mother in law, Florence, opened the door and invited them in. She didn’t want the neighbors to witness such a scene. When she heard that it was Britani who was arguing with Darlene, she felt a slight relief. It was about time Britani show others that she was a capable person as well. Although Florence son had married Darlene, she wasn’t as accepting of the marriage as others was. To her, Darlene was always lacking something and she wasn’t authentic enough. If one day, she up and leave with her four children, Florence would dance with happiness. Not only would she be free of the four naughty children who doesn’t have any spec of humanity acts, her son’s vision and life decisions would not be dictated anymore.
Once Darlene and Britani was inside, Florence listened to the conversation carefully. She wanted to be the middle group if nothing else work out. In all of her sixty-two years of living, she had always been a middle ground, even if she does steer toward one group than the other. As she listened, she realized what was wrong. Then she asked both of the woman to go check where they stored their $15 and see if they can find it. Since they were close by Darlene’s room, they decided that would be the first place they would check.
Darlene’s husband, George, woke up slowly when he heard the commotion. His wife never understood his late night schedule and that he didn’t want to be disturbed so early in the morning. He didn’t have to work until one in the afternoon so he didn’t want to wake up until it was close to that time. Yet, with no exception, this morning his wife was making a ruckus as well. When he saw that his mother and cousin was also in the room, he shook his head and lay back down onto the pillow. His mother and Britani was always ganging up against Darlene no matter what subject they were talking about. It was only time before George would be involved in it as well, so if George can still have his peace, he would rather keep that for the time being.
Darlene went through all of her saving spot and of course she found small amount of money here and there. There was a three $1, one $5, and another six $1. There were also bunch of quarters and pennies that none of the women want to sit down and count. After that, Darlene looked at Britani to see if she was satisfied. Britani’s brows were still creasing together. Darlene explained one last time that she saved the money in the form of one $10 and one $5 and she wants them back. Britani shot back that she too saved the money that way and hers was gone as well.
George stirred awake and threw his wallet at the women who wouldn’t leave him in peace. He shouted at him to just take his money as a compromise and to leave him be. Darlene was the one who grabbed the wallet and shot it back to her lazy husband. Although her husband has a job and is working hard, he rarely spends time with his family anymore. He may think she doesn’t know, but Darlene knew George had been spending more than $15 gambling away in the middle of the night when he was supposed to be coming home from work.
They left Darlene’s room and was about to go to Britani’s room when they ran into Britani’s boyfriend. He greeted them and showed Britani the fish he had caught that early morning when he was fishing by the river. Britani felt the happiness sprang into her when her little girl and Ethan shared a father and daughter moment. Although Florence was not too accepting of Ethan, she knew that Ethan was a good man. He was good to his three other wives and his ten other children, so of course he would be good to Britani and her little daughter.
Ethan questioned what was happening and Britani rely everything to him. To her, he was like a shoulder to lean on and rest. She was positive Ethan would take control of the complication and somehow, like how he always does, will fix it. When Ethan heard of the missing $15, he shook his head with a chuckle. Then he told his future family to leave this matter to him as he pull out a $15. He gave it to Darlene and apologize on his future child’s behalf. Then he snaked an arm around Britani and gently pull her along with him into the apartment, where they can have their time together before he had to go again.
Darlene didn’t even bother to watch Britani and Ethan. She ushered her mother in law back into their apartment and threw the $15 on top of her computer desk. She didn’t have time for breakfast because of the stupid incident, now she have to rush in order to get to work on time. George felt his wife’s frustration as she pull clothes from there and here and throw clothes to there and here. He got up and wrapped his arms around his wife and showered her with kisses. Finally, she giggled as she kicked him off of her. Then she walk out of the door with her scrubs on looking like the woman George had married.
Florence went to sit next to her rapidly aging husband. Her husband asked what had happened and she retold the whole incident. The deep details only came out after Darlene had left the door. Then one of Darlene’s children stirred awake and watch as her grandparents chatted away. She was hungry but wasn’t sure on how to interject the conversation to ask for food, so she decided to wait for the conversation to end. She remembered the last time she asked for food when her grandparents were in a deep conversation, she didn’t get food as how she wanted. Instead she called greedy.
Below them, Britani was yelling at the person who made her found love again. Ethan doesn’t see and understand how important that $15 was. It wasn’t because they were missing $15 but because her child didn’t stole it and so the apology was not needed. Ethan also didn’t understand that Britani and her children were looked down for so long, this $15 might as well be $15k of gold. It was important for Darlene to understand that her children didn’t do her wrong.
Of course Britani haven’t always been there for her children to teach them life lesson, but she had also never taught her children on how to steal. If it was anyone who was doing the stealing, it would be Colten who was always mischievous. He had stolen from his mother just the previous year when his mother wouldn’t let him have $5, of course the $15 wouldn’t be invisible to him. Beside, Darlene and George were the parents who didn’t teach their children the important and value of money. Britani made her children understood where money came from and how hard it is to make them. $15 was already two hours of hard work for Britani.
Ethan just shook his head at his pouting lover. He smiled at his little girl on his lap and one sided-ly conversed with her. The little girl stared at her mother and then wondered when she will get to see Abby again. Abby is her favorite playmate, Abby gives her anything she wanted. To her, Abby was the best sister ever.