З життя
Вихід з поліклініки: шлях до зупинки громадського транспорту.
Аліна вийшла з поліклініки та вирушила на зупинку чекати на маршрутку. На сьомому місяці вагітності їздити на інший кінець міста було не дуже зручно, але що поробиш, якщо їхню поліклініку закрили на ремонт до наступного року. «Родити ж тобі цього року, а не наступного», – жартував чоловік Аліни Павло. На щастя, лікар на прийомі порадував майбутню маму гарними результатами аналізів. Тепер їй довелося проїхати десять зупинок на маршрутці, щоб дістатися додому.
Коли Аліна підійшла до зупинки, маршрутка щойно приїхала. Люди вже заходили, і вона стала в кінець імпровізованої черги, щоб теж увійти до салону. Місць у старому автобусі було мало, і всі вони на момент, коли Аліна зайшла, вже були зайняті. «Ну що поробиш, поїду поки стоячи, не чекати ж наступної мінімум півгодини», – подумала вона і зітхнула. Просити когось поступитися місцем вона соромилася. Хоч їй і було вже більше двадцяти років, але відстоювати свої інтереси вона так і не навчилася. Тому молода жінка вирішила, що чекатиме, поки у когось прокинеться совість або хтось вийде на своїй зупинці.
Пасажири тим часом ігнорували майбутню маму. Жінка, що сиділа з дівчинкою на передньому двомісному сидінні, сподівалася, що хтось інший поступиться, і схилилася до своєї дитини. Хлопець у навушниках старанно робив вигляд, що музика загородила йому не тільки вуха, але й очі. Жінка з котячим переносом на колінах заспокоювала свого улюбленця. Старенький дідусь дрімав на задньому сидінні, а поруч з ним дві юні подруги жваво обговорювали щось, дивлячись в Instagram. Інші пасажири також не звертали уваги на майбутню маму.
Водій не поспішав рушати, навіть закурив, висунувшись у вікно. Минули п’ять, десять хвилин… Пасажири неохоче почали нервувати. По салону пройшов невдоволений шепіт, який ще через п’ять хвилин вилився в одностайне: «Ну коли поїдемо, шефе?». П’ятдесятирічний водій Михайлович, котрий провів за кермом більшу частину життя та мав у цьому житті певні моральні принципи, загасив сигарету об борт автобуса, обернувся до салону та гучно гаркнув: «От коли місце вагітній хтось поступиться, тоді й поїдемо!».
Того ж моменту всі захвилювалися. Жінка з переносом встала і поставила свій вантаж на коліна діду з заднього сидіння, жінка з дитиною нарешті посадила дочку собі на коліна, юні красуні, що розглядали Instagram, почервоніли і обидві скочили зі словами: «Сідайте, будь ласка!». Хлопець у навушниках взагалі вийшов з маршрутки. Михайлович знову обернувся до салону, оглянув задоволеним поглядом п’ять вільних місць і сказав Аліні: «Вибирай, доню, яке зручніше. І поїдемо потихеньку!».
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Why Does It Matter Who Looked After Gran? By Law, That Flat Should Be Mine! — My Mum Argues With Me Over My Grandmother’s Home My Own Mother is Threatening to Sue Me — All Because My Gran’s Flat Went Not to Her, or Even to Me, But to My Daughter. Mum Claims It’s Unfair, Insists the Flat Should Be Hers. But Gran Made a Different Choice. Why? Perhaps Because My Husband and I Lived With Her and Cared for Her Those Last Five Years. You Could Easily Call My Mum Selfish — Her Needs Were Always Far More Important Than Anyone Else’s. Mum’s Been Married Three Times, But Only Had Two Daughters: My Younger Sister and Me. We Get On Brilliantly, But Neither of Us Has a Great Relationship With Mum. I Don’t Even Remember My Dad — He Split From Mum When I Was Two. Up Until I Was Six, I Lived With Mum at Gran’s. For Some Reason, I Thought Gran Was Awful — Probably Because Mum Was Always Crying. Only When I Grew Up Did I Understand: Gran Was Good, She Just Wanted to Help Her Daughter Make a Better Life. Later, Mum Married Again and We All Moved In With My Stepfather. That’s When My Sister Was Born. But After Seven Years, Mum Got Divorced Again. This Time, We Didn’t Go Back to Gran’s. Stepfather Went Off to Work and Let Us Stay in His Flat for a Bit. Three Years Later, Mum Married Husband Number Three and We Moved In With Him. He Wasn’t Pleased Mum Had Children, Though He Never Hurt Us — He Just Ignored Us. So Did Mum. She Was Obsessed With Her New Husband, Always Jealous, Always Causing Rows and Breaking Crockery. Once a Month Mum Would Start Packing, But Stepfather Always Talked Her Round. My Sister and I Got Used to It and Stopped Noticing. I Ended Up Looking After My Sister — Mum Didn’t Have the Time. Thank Goodness for Our Grandmothers, Who Helped Us So Much. Eventually, I Left for University, and My Sister Moved In With Gran. Our Dad Always Supported Her; Mum Would Call Us Only at Christmas. I Accepted Mum For Who She Was and Stopped Expecting Her to Care, But My Sister Never Did. She Was Always Hurt, Especially When Mum Skipped Her School Leavers’ Party. We Grew Up. My Sister Got Married and Moved Away. I Was Living With My Long-Term Boyfriend; We Visited Gran Often and Stayed Close, Though I Tried Not to Be a Nuisance. When Gran Fell Ill and Went Into Hospital, I Visited Every Day: Shopping, Cooking, Cleaning, Chatting, Making Sure She Took Her Medicine. Sometimes My Boyfriend Helped Out Too. After Six Months, Gran Suggested We Move In to Save for Our Own Place, So We Did. Six Months Later, I Was Pregnant. We Got Married, Had a Simple Family Do — Mum Didn’t Come, Not Even a Phone Call. When My Daughter Was Two Months Old, Gran Broke Her Leg. Caring for Both Was Hard and I Desperately Needed Mum’s Help, But She Refused, Saying She Wasn’t Well and Would Come Later. She Never Did. Six Months On, Gran Had a Stroke and Was Bedridden. If Not for My Husband, I Don’t Know How I’d Have Coped. Gran Slowly Improved, She Even Got to See Her Great-Granddaughter Take Her First Steps, and Lived Another Two-and-a-Half Years. She Passed Away Peacefully in Her Sleep. My Husband and I Were Devastated By Her Loss. Mum Only Came for the Funeral. A Month Later, She Tried to Evict Me So She Could Have the Flat. Mum Hadn’t Realised Gran Had Left It to My Daughter Right After She Was Born. Naturally Mum Was Furious, Demanding I Give Up the Flat or She’d Sue Me. “Look How Deceitful You Are! You Duped the Old Woman, Took Her Flat, And Now You Live In It Yourself! You Won’t Get Away With This! It Doesn’t Matter Who Looked After Gran — That Flat Should Be Mine!” But Mum Won’t Get That Flat, I Know That for Certain. I’ve Spoken to a Solicitor and a Notary. We’ll Stay in the Home Gran Gave Us, and If Our Second Child Is a Girl, She’ll Be Named After Gran.
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