An old friend came to visit me one day. She married a chef, had two children – in general, everything in her life turned out well. She didn’t come here on purpose, she just needed some documents, and didn’t want to stay in a hotel. My husband went with her.
– My husband will feed us like in a restaurant, finally you’ll get a break from the kitchen. You won’t want to let him go yet,” laughed my friend before she arrived.
I was on a diet, but for an occasion like this I was ready to give up. I only had one room free, because my mother-in-law was also visiting. She herself had lived in France for the past few years, but she had lost her residency permit, and now she was regaining some permits.
There was only one sofa in the room, but it was very big – four people could fit in there. Moreover, my friend’s daughter wanted to sleep in my daughter’s room. They are the same age, they have many common interests, so we did not interfere.
We screened off their sleeping place with a curtain so that no one interferes, because my husband and I get up very early for work. Oh, and my mother-in-law takes her pills by the hour, so she often walks by this room.
The capacity of my refrigerator did not please the cook. He grimaced, but started to get something out of there. Lunch had to wait a long time, because he was in no hurry. Instead of the usual 13 hours we sat down at the table at 16:00. What did he serve? Pasta with nuggets and sliced tomatoes. Very restaurant-like!
Before dinner, the cook asked me to go shopping with him. We went to the supermarket together, but when it was time to pay for our purchases – he defiantly walked out. I paid, because there was a hungry mob waiting at home.
Dinner was pretty much the same. The tomato slices were replaced by cucumber slices. The cook had used more hot water in three days than our meter had in a month. And all because he spent three hours washing dishes under a big stream of water. He could go to the bathroom and leave the faucet running.
The next day I had the nerve to tell him that we are not used to eating so late. He pursed his lips and went into the kitchen. We had different daily schedules, and I realized then that I had made a mistake by letting them stay at my place and hostess.
I couldn’t even make a sandwich for my husband in the morning-the guests had eaten all the sausage and cheese in the night. The rest of the food was cut up and put into containers. I ran to the store before work so my husband wouldn’t go hungry, and left.
The cook woke up at 10:00 and went into the kitchen. His lunch was scheduled to be served at 4:00 p.m. And what do you think we ate? Chicken nuggets with mashed potatoes. The best part was that he had pre-cooked the mashed potatoes from the evening and mashed them for lunch. It was impossible to eat.
We were silent and patient. We had to make it through one more day. The cook was so busy in my kitchen that I couldn’t even find salt. But I didn’t scandalize, I decided that tomorrow they would leave and I would do the final cleaning.
The next day they woke up and said that they would stay for a few more days. And that they had to buy groceries, they were all out. Then my husband snapped and asked them to leave our house within two hours. My friend called me ungrateful, cried and kept saying that our friendship was over. They left. Along with our freezer supplies and canned goods.
I didn’t even think it was necessary to keep watch and check what they were shoving in their bags. Since then, I’ve decided that there will be no more strangers in our house. That was enough for me – I learned my lesson.
My husband and I went to the store, stocked the fridge with groceries again, and tried to forget about it. Finally, our house was quiet and peaceful.
