Then Sarah said, “There are plenty of taxis at the station. Just take one yourself, I’ll send you the address on Instagram.” Before I could say anything else, the call ended.
I stared at the dark screen, then at the things I brought, and finally let out a long sigh.
What if Sarah truly had something urgent?
Thinking that, I braced myself, managed to hail a taxi, and squeezed myself and all my things inside.
After all that effort, I finally reached Sarah’s place with my bags. But the moment I arrived, I heard bursts of laughter and cheerful voices from inside.
I pushed the door open and saw Mrs. Adams on the sofa, eating sunflower seeds, David leaning against her scrolling on his phone, and Sarah playing with Henry, who was laughing so hard he was rolling on the floor. Nothing about the scene looked urgent.
When Sarah saw me come in, she quickly stood up, rubbing her hands as she explained,
“Mom! You’re here! Henry kept begging me to play with him all day, and I really couldn’t pull away, so I wasn’t able to pick you up.”
I looked at her, then at Mrs. Adams and David lounging comfortably in the room, and I couldn’t help feeling disappointed.
There were so many people in the house; even if Henry was clingy, couldn’t they have asked Mrs. Adams or David to pick me up?
The words reached my lips, but I held them back.
Just then, the goose I brought suddenly flapped its wings, tipping the bamboo basket over, sending vegetables rolling everywhere and feathers drifting all over the floor.
The laughter stopped instantly.
David shot to his feet. He glanced at the mess near my feet, and his expression darkened at once.
“Mom, what exactly are you doing?”
“We just had this floor waxed, it cost thousands! Look at this stuff you dragged in, making such a mess. Can you even cover the cleaning and maintenance costs?”
He bent down and nudged the vegetables on the floor, his brows knitted, stepping back in disgust.
“And these wilted vegetables you brought, grown with manure—are they even safe to eat? What if Henry gets bacteria from them? He only eats imported organic produce; he can’t touch things with such questionable origins!”
Seeing the stains on the floor, I felt a wave of guilt, but I still hoped Sarah would speak up for me.