He had been working hard for days, taking the initiative to finally clean. Doing the dishes. Cleaning out the fridge. Cleaning and draining the algae-filled pool. Only somehow, the pool, once emptied, accidentally got refilled. The oldest grandson taking off mid-chore leaving the hose on all night. The pool overflowing. The water bill likely to be $1,000 CAD that Grandma doesn’t have.
And now she’s upset, angry, crying, sleeping all day to avoid fights. “There goes Christmas this year,” she exclaims.
He had tried so hard, but somehow not only failed, but failed spectacularly.
“Took me year and a half to build credit on the water,” she’s full out crying now, sobbing and gasping as she does. “It really set me back, anyway.”
She has put extra money onto the water account as a buffer for bad times, nearly $700 CAD in credit. Now that buffer is gone. She blares music, an old Japanese tune that her and her brother Horse used to sing together, “Sukiyaki” by Kyu Sakamoto. She sings along in broken Japanese, a language she doesn’t speak, and begins to calm herself.
She bought herself a bodycam from Temu, something to help her with her agoraphobia, and looks up the progress on their shipping. She got two to start off with. One for her, and one for her daughter who walks alone in Toronto often. She wants to get ones for all the kids, as protection. She feels safer knowing she can record her journey. Somehow, people will believe her the violence she faces. Another record of the abuses besides her own word, which seems useless.
She doesn’t want the credit cleared, so she schemes to spend half her ODSP cheque on the water. Pinching pennies even further this month. The grandson filled her bowl with a nugget and she takes a toke. Someone had cleared her bag earlier, cleaning her out of her stash entirely. He’s really trying.
Grandma’s singing along to the loud music, laughing. “Music was so much fun when we were growing up, man.” Ode, the doodle-mix, jumps up and links her paws in Grandma’s hands and they dance together to Ode’s favourite song. Ode gets so excited when “her” song comes on, zooming around the room and furiously wagging her tail.
For a minute, the water bill doesn’t matter.
Have you ever tried so hard to make things better, only to somehow make everything worse?
If this story made you think about the messy ways families try to take care of each other, restack it and share it with someone who might see themselves in it.
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