The little pinches

[The People]

Ever get hit with one small thing? Not the big ones but a little aha moment that sets the dragon blowing smoke?

We spent a few months living back with the parent s after being in calgary for several months. As we prepared to leave again the mother told us that there was a call to Calgary on the phone bill and we needed to pay it before we left. We explained that we didn't know anyone in Calgary that we would spend a whole hour talking to and that perhaps it was the brother's call. He went to a different university and I am sure that he had friends in Alberta. He was more prone to being on the phone than I was. My mother wouldn't listen.

We went back to the city and moved on to a teaching job. We didn't even have our first cheque when a letter came from her. She said she needed thirty dollars and could we help her? We didn't even have our first cheque yet. But we sent it and every month after that, In June she told us that we must have misunderstood because she had only wanted help that one time. Then why the f*ck didn't she say so in October?

The other day this popped into our head and it dawned on us that it was her way of getting the phone bill money out of us. Money we didn't owe. Money the brother owed but he always felt that the world owed him so he would never have spoken up.