Little Sacrifices Read Free

the school?’ A bicycle was one of my very few possessions. I said sure, and the awkward moment passed. We spent the afternoon pedaling amiably around my new home town. Adolescent clemency is a thing to wonder at.
    I awoke the next morning to my parents’ futile attempt to shout in whispers. After fifteen years my ears were trained to pick out the sibilance of their anger. I crouched on the top stair to eavesdrop.
    ‘And I’m saying, Duncan, how can a person come with the house? That’s ridiculous, it’s not the eighteen hundreds anymore. Besides, you should be ashamed of yourself. You’re perpetuating the same system we’re against.’
    ‘Oh stop being dramatic, Sarah, I am not. I’m just telling you what the conditions of the sale were. Dora Lee worked for the old lady, and the executor promised he’d make sure she was employed by the new owners. That’s us. What do you want me to tell you? Those were the conditions.’
    ‘So you bought the woman with the house?’
    ‘No! I told you– ’
    ‘That’s just great. Are you going to have her call you master?’
    ‘It’s nothing like that. I didn’t pay anything extra for her,’ he paused. ‘I mean...’
    I started down the stairs to watch Ma finish him off.
    ‘So she was free? Like the furniture, or the, the little crocheted doilies? Like the old cracked cups in the cabinets? Is that what you’re saying?’
    ‘Morning. What’s going on?’
    They gave their opinions at once, glad for an arbiter. Duncan was a real martyr in the name of the cause when he wanted to be. ‘Sarah, think a minute. This isn’t about us, or what we want. It’s about helping someone who needs it, by giving them a job. If we don’t hire Dora Lee, what’ll happen to her? Hmm? What do you think? There aren’t exactly a million jobs in town for maids, you know. She’s got kids. What’ll happen to them? Who knows what kind of person she might end up with, if she finds a job at all.’
    Ma stayed quiet as her ideals and her heart debated their positions. ‘I don’t like it. I don’t need a housekeeper.’
    ‘Come on, we can afford to hire her. Let’s try it out. If you really hate it we’ll think again. What do you say?’ He smiled at Ma and after a time she smiled back. The matter was apparently settled.
    Unbelievable. ‘Will someone please explain to me what the point is of having beliefs if you’re just going to bend them any which way when your husband says so?’ Ma looked away, shrinking a little.
    ‘May, that’s not fair. Your mother certainly has a mind of her own, and we discuss things, to come to agreements.’
    ‘Oh really, Duncan? So when was the last time you gave in on anything?’
    ‘That’s enough young lady,’ interrupted Ma. ‘Your father’s right. I won’t be responsible for someone being thrown out on the street. Not now. We can make sure she’s treated right.’
    I found it curious that she let me run roughshod over her, but came out swinging when I went after Duncan. It didn’t matter. Arguing was a waste of time when they presented a united front. We were about to become people who had ‘help’.
    I was finishing my pancakes when Jim turned up, glasses still on the end of his nose, hand still leaning on the bell. Did I want to take a walk into town with him? Ma and Duncan both urged me to go have fun. What they meant was, I might as well go. No one else was beating down the door to spend time with me.
    Sleep did nothing to dampen Jim’s fondness for minutiae. He launched into the town’s local history while we were still in view of the house, sounding like he meant to take a running start at it from two hundred years ago and enlighten me chronologically. I thought about turning back until I remembered my alternative. To be honest, I was developing a middling interest in Jim’s trivia. He seemed to know something about everything. It was one of the unintended rewards of not having a social life to take up his time.
    The air was heavy,