A Great Whatever (blog story) 18

     At the end of the month, the thousand dollars your father placed in your bank account was much less than the half he said it would be. It wasn’t even enough to cover rent. Heather was helping a little, but there no way you were going to ask for more. When added to your monthly paycheck you were bringing in twenty five hundred dollars. It is a lot for some. You were used to getting four grand a month.
     You felt irresponsible for not saving more money in the past. It never seemed to matter. You bought things you didn’t need. Things you didn’t really want. Now you were slowly draining what little money you had in the bank. It began to gnaw at you.
     Heather kept her word and learned how to cook. She relished in it. Every day would be a new concoction and often they were good. Cooking became a hobby, bordering on an obsession. You thought eating at home would be an economical way to save money, but Heather did not make casseroles and meatloaf. Everything she made she got from cooking shows where they made fine meals with expensive ingredients.  
     Once, in a grocery store while Heather filled up your basket with rare and exotic ingredients, you broke out into a sweat. You thought to yourself that you could eat mac and cheese. Not the homemade stuff with four types of cheeses and pieces of lobster. You could eat the stuff that comes in a box. Toss in a can of tuna and maybe some peas. That’s all you needed. You wondered what truffle oil is for and if it wasn’t there would it even be missed. The deal was she took care of the cooking and you took care of the food.  You got the bad end of that one.
     You wanted to call your father and ask for more money. How could he cut your allowance like that? How were you supposed to live? You passed time trying to devise the perfect argument, it couldn’t be done. There was a reason he only gave you what he did and as far he was concerned it was a good one. You can’t change a mind made up. Besides, you were a man.
     It was work you resented. You make less money that a taxi driver and you have a business degree. It was unfair. You decided you needed to find a new job. Of course, the first thing you were going to do is let the anger fester. That’s how people change. They make themselves sick.
     Sitting at the table watching Milo dig into his bowl of kibble you consider yourself lucky that he doesn’t eat swordfish. You sure wish you didn’t.