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Grandma slammed her hand on the table.
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“Get out of here if you don’t want to eat! You
ungrateful brat!”
Then, turning to Ethan with a syrupy smile,
she pulled a fifty–dollar bill from her sock and
gave it to him.
She cooed at him, even though he hadn’t lost
anything and had actually gained fifty dollars.
In her eyes, her precious grandson had been
terribly wronged.
“There, there, sweetie. Don’t cry. Grandma won’t give her any money, it’s all for you.”
Aunt Sarah chimed in, telling Grandma not to
spoil him too much.
Even the usually quiet Aunt Carol and Uncle
John agreed. “Mom, you need to be
reasonable.”
Grandma ignored them. “I’ll spoil my
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grandson as much as I like!”
The family resumed their happy dinner. Uncle
Mark raised his glass, proposing a toast to
the New Year.
The sound of their chatter mingled with the
exploding firecrackers outside.
It was New Year’s Eve, a time for families to
be joyful and together.
But I wasn’t joyful.
I sat on the cold floor, watching Dad from the
side.
He bounced Ethan on his knee again, feeding
him peeled shrimp.
Mom led me to the kitchen and told me to
take whatever I wanted.
I shook my head and went to my room.
It was the only New Year’s Eve I didn’t stay
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up until midnight.
I didn’t go to the roof to watch the fireworks.
I don’t remember falling asleep, but when I
woke up, my pillow was damp, and my eyes
were swollen.
Aunt Sarah was gossiping with some
neighbors at the front door.
That’s how I learned Dad had been taken to
the hospital in the middle of the night.
“You won’t believe it, I nearly had a heart
attack!”
“I was just about to go to bed when my
sister–in–law kicked down the door with a
spatula in her hand!”
The neighbors gasped, saying Mom was always so timid and meek.
She was afraid to even kill a chicken during
Join the bookshelf
the holidays.
She never talked back, no matter how badly
people treated her.
But for me, this timid, meek woman did
something no one ever expected.
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