If my mother didn’t brag on the phone every other day about how many zucchini she had grown, and if she didn’t mention cherries dotted with berries, I wouldn’t have the slightest idea of resenting her. It’s not uncommon for her to have a good harvest, giving her and her father the opportunity to close a lot of canning – cucumbers, tomatoes, very tasty canned plums and soaked apples. Also, the cellar is stocked with potatoes and the freezer with vegetables. My family usually gets a lot of stuff too – my mom hands over three big bags usually when my wife and I drop by for a visit.
But this year we were unpleasantly surprised.
My mother and daughter-in-law had a bit of a fight over the baby’s name. Each suggested her own, and I stayed on my wife’s side. Not even because I was going against my mother, but because I like the name “Frank” better for my son. And my mother was so offended that she still behaves coldly with my wife. And in early August, when mine went to the countryside to be in nature, fresh air, fresh everything to eat, returned home empty-handed.
So my wife was pampered there, everything tasty was prepared for her, but apart from that, the promised huge harvest was not there. The cherries were all picked, the vegetable garden was somehow empty, only lonely pumpkins were growing. It was embarrassing to ask my mother, so I brought it up with my father in between.
– Do you and mom have enough? It’s not growing this year, is it?
– Sure it is! – answered my father. – There were so many cherries that our neighbor was picking them from all the trees for three days in a row. And a lot of raspberries grew! In the garden is also great – your mother every day brings home.
– Then why didn’t you bring anything with you? I haven’t been to your place, I was hoping to eat something from the garden at home.
– Do you need anything? I heard from my sister-in-law that you have everything. If you have it, we’d rather give it to the neighbors than spoil it. There are a lot of kids here who will eat berries, and potatoes to share with.
I realized that mom did it on purpose. She still holds a grudge against her daughter-in-law, so she’s giving them away, if only not to us. Of course, my wife could have told us that we didn’t have to – it was bad form to agree right away. But how could my mother take her words seriously and not give anything to her only son for the first time in her life?
