[Don’t make me lose face in front of our relatives. Don’t let your sister-in-law lose her job, or don’t bother coming home again!]
I stared at the messages, a suffocating mix of anger and cold despair rising in me.
My hands shook as I typed one line.
[Return my jewelry now, or I’ll call the cops!]
Then, I deleted it, deciding words were pointless. Instead, I directly dialed the cops.
They brought my mother to the station. When I went to reclaim my jewelry, Ethel pointed at my nose and cursed.
“Gosh, Beulah, you really outdid yourself this time! You actually called the cops on your own mother?! What a daughter you are! Watch out—your father might crawl out of his grave in the middle of the night to look for you!”
Buck was so mad that he wanted to hit me, but an officer held him back.
I stood my ground and asked my mother calmly, “You took all my gold while I wasn’t home. If that isn’t theft, what is? You stole a daughter’s things and gave them to your daughter-in-law. No matter how you spin it, I didn’t do anything wrong!”