Then Daniel spoke. “Dad, you’re being unreasonable now. Picking up money and being greedy are two different things. You can’t compare them.”
His words cut deep, like a cold knife straight into my heart.
I looked at him, the son I had loved and cared for all his life, now speaking to me in that tone, with that look in his eyes.
Martha raised her voice even more. “That’s right! Daniel is absolutely right! A small thing shows a person’s true nature. From twenty cents, you can already see someone’s greed. Today it’s twenty cents, tomorrow it’s two bucks, then twenty. That’s how it starts.”
“And you used to be a teacher.”
Wanda crossed her arms and lifted her chin. “Exactly. And Dad, to be honest, the meals have been really bad lately, haven’t they? I haven’t even eaten shrimp in days. Mom, right?”
Martha nodded eagerly. “Yes, right! My Wanda loves shrimp. She used to have them often, but now they’re completely gone. You get over one hundred and fifty dollars a day for groceries, so how can that all be gone so fast?”
Listening to their accusations, I felt so suffocated I could barely breathe.