Chapter 1
I came home early and found my elderly mother sitting at the kitchen table with a bowl of dog scraps in front of her. My wife stood over her and said, “Eat it, or don’t eat at all.”
My name is Ethan, and my seventy-four-year-old mother, Margaret, had been living with us outside Nashville for six months.
Her knees were weak, and she needed help getting around the house.
That afternoon, I returned from work almost three hours early.
I opened the front door and heard my wife, Claire, shouting from the kitchen.
“You should be grateful I give you anything.”
I stopped in the hallway.
Then I heard my mother whisper, “Claire, please. I haven’t eaten since breakfast.”
My stomach turned.
I walked into the kitchen.
Mom was sitting at the table with tears running down her face.
In front of her was the metal tray we used for our dog.
Leftover meat, soggy kibble, and scraps from the night before were piled inside it.
Claire had her arms crossed.
“Ethan?”
Her face went white when she saw me.
I looked at the tray.
Then at my mother.
“What is this?”
Claire immediately shook her head.
“It’s not what it looks like.”
Mom lowered her eyes.
Claire rushed toward me.
“Your mother refused lunch, then started acting confused again.”
“Confused?” Mom whispered.
Claire ignored her.
“She took the dog’s food herself, Ethan.”
I stared at my wife.
Then I noticed Mom’s regular dinner plate sitting untouched beside the sink.
Claire had scraped its food directly into the trash.
Something inside me snapped.
I grabbed the dog-food tray from the table.
“Ethan, calm down.”
I hurled the contents toward Claire, splattering the front of her blouse and the floor at her feet.
She screamed.
“How dare you!”
“How dare YOU feed my mother this?”
Claire suddenly started crying.
“She’s lying because she wants to destroy our marriage!”
Mom slowly reached into the pocket of her sweater.
Her shaking hand placed a small voice recorder on the table.
Claire stopped crying instantly.
May you like
I pressed play.
And the first voice I heard was Claire saying, “Once Ethan signs those papers, this house will be mine, and you won’t be here to see it.”
