The motherinlaw suggested that we move in with her and rent out our flat. We had virtually no alternative, so we agreed. While my husband was home, everyone treated me kindly, but the moment he left, everything changed. I was instantly put back in my place and wasnt even allowed near the fridge.
I often wept in front of my husband, trying to tell him what was happening, yet he didnt believe me. He said his mother and sister would never do such things. He was especially skeptical when I mentioned they had coated my hairbrush with a sticky substance. I dont know how long I could have held out if a decisive event hadnt occurred.
Usually we left together in the morninghim to work, me to drop the kids at kindergarten. That particular morning, Paul felt ill and decided to stay home. I went out to run some errands and, on returning, I ran straight into Marc, my sisterinlaw Claires boyfriend, in the hallway.
Hey, you, go get some beer quickly! he shouted.
Are you crazy? I gasped, stunned.
What, you didnt hear me? I said fast! Need me to repeat that?
My motherinlaw emerged from the kitchen:
Thats right! Let her do something useful, you goodfornothing! And she should take out the trash too!
At that instant the door to our bedroom opened and Paul appeared. A heavy silence fell over the room. My motherinlaw immediately fled back to the kitchen, while my husband stepped toward Marc, grabbed him by the collar and hurled him down the stairs, shouting that he was never to set foot here again.
Claire tried to say something but only shrugged. My motherinlaw attempted to spark a fight, but Paul cut her off before she could finish. He called the tenants right away and told them this would be their last month in our flat. Then he turned to his mother and sister and declared firmly:
**If, before the end of the month, you utter even one more insulting word about my wife, consider that you no longer have a son.**
A month later we moved back into our own apartment. Yet the nightmare lingered with me for a long time. My motherinlaw and fatherinlaw disowned Paul, but it didnt affect him at all. He even said he never wanted to see or hear from them again.
