Errol rarely cooked and he didn’t even know how to turn on the range hood.
I pushed open the old window and the cold wind swept in, dispelling the pungent smell and making my mind clearer.
There was a knock at the door and I knew it was Beata coming to collect the rent.
“I’m old, I don’t know how to use your mobile phone apps.” Beata kept mumbling and I stuffed the money I had prepared into her hand.
But she didn’t leave and poked her head into the house.
“Errol is cooking?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s hard to find a good man like him. You are lucky. Women in our time didn’t have such a good life. We had to do farm work, housework and take care of children. It was hard.”
I sneered in my heart and said perfunctorily, “You are lucky. You can also collect rent. People nowadays don’t have such a blessing.”
The neighbors always liked to say behind my back that I was lucky and had climbed up the ladder.
In their eyes, Errol was a cultured person, while I was a migrant worker from the mountain valley. I couldn’t read a few words, lonely and helpless.
Of course, they didn’t know that I worked hard in the store to support him in studying and taking exams.
I thought his life would be better after he found a formal job, but he spent all the money he earned on another woman.
It was really ridiculous to say that these people were just a few glances and started to point fingers at other people’s lives.
When I returned to the house, Errol had already brought out the dishes.
He muttered “It’s cold”, closed the window and asked me, “Who is it?”
“The rent collector.”
“Didn’t you just pay the rent?”
I glanced at him and said nothing.
He sat down awkwardly. “Eat quickly, don’t let it get cold.”
I looked at the table and saw only one stir-fried vegetable.
I put down my spoon and asked, “Where are the spare ribs?”
He avoided my eyes and said hesitantly, “You just recovered from a serious illness, it’s not good to eat too greasy food. Be good, eat more vegetables. I put less oil on purpose.”
I lost my appetite.
He said again, “Harper, Judy has no place to live these days, I think… why don’t you let her come to our house and stay for a few days?”
I raised my eyebrows. In order to save money, my family rented a one-bedroom apartment.