The Crocodile Handbag
Saturday turned out to be quiet. Outside the window, a fine rain was drizzling, running down the glass in uneven trails, while the apartment smelled of freshly brewed tea and that special Saturday silence when you can finally relax after a hard workweek.
Nika settled into the old armchair — the very one they had inherited from her grandmother, with its sagging seat and worn armrests — and wrapped her hands around her favorite mug. The ceramic pleasantly warmed her palms.
This is happiness, she thought, breathing in the aroma of the tea. No extra people, no conversations about work, money, or about how “it was time already”… Just her, hot tea, and a new series on her tablet.
Over the past few months, these quiet hours had become her salvation. Roma, her husband, had been out of work for three months now, and their home had turned into a battlefield of unspoken resentment. He spent whole days at the computer — sometimes playing some shooters, sometimes watching football, sometimes supposedly looking for vacancies, although most of the time the screen showed anything but job sites.
Bags
“Darling!” Roma’s voice exploded into the silence like a firecracker. “You won’t believe it! Mom chose her own anniversary gift!”
He burst into the room, beaming with excitement like a schoolboy who had just gotten an A. Nika slowly looked away from the screen and glanced at her husband. Something in his tone put her on alert.
“A crocodile-skin handbag!” Roma continued, not noticing her wariness. “She has dreamed about one for so long!”
Nika carefully placed her mug on the small table and narrowed her eyes.
“A crocodile-skin handbag? Did she decide that herself, or did someone suggest it to her? And by the way, did she not think that animal rights activists might be outraged?”
The sarcasm flew right past Roma as if he were deaf.
“She’s my mother! She deserves it!”
“Deserves it?” Nika felt something tighten inside her. “Come on, explain to me exactly what she has done to distinguish herself so much. I’m not arguing — she raised you. But I’m not on that list. I have my own parents. And how much does this gift of hers cost?”
Roma coughed awkwardly and looked away.
Suitcases and travel bags
“Well, it’s nothing much, really… About five of your salaries.”
Nika felt as though the ground had disappeared from under her feet.
“Five of my salaries?” she repeated, her face stretching in disbelief.
“Well yes, it’s Nile crocodile leather, not some cheap imitation,” Roma explained as if nothing unusual had happened.
“And why are you telling me this? I have absolutely no interest in it.”
Roma began shifting from foot to foot and looked away completely.
“Well, you see… I bought the handbag on credit.”
“On credit?” Nika’s voice became dangerously calm.
“Well, yes. Huge thanks to my sister Lenka — she helped. You know she works at the bank, and she arranged everything so quickly…”
“And whose name is it in?”
Something terrible was beginning to dawn on Nika.
“Well, whose name would it be in… Yours. Who else? I just took your documents…”
Nika silently stood up and slowly walked over to her husband. For some reason, she suddenly wanted to kill him. Or at least hit him with something heavy.
“So, Romochka, you’ve been unemployed for three months, decided to buy your mommy a gift, but I’m the one who has to pay for it?”
Gifts
Roma involuntarily took a step back, realizing that the situation was heating up.
“Nika, that’s just how things turned out… You’re the only one working in our family…”
“I am working! And instead of looking for a job, instead of supporting the family like normal husbands do, you sit at home like a schoolboy on vacation and decide that I don’t already have enough problems without your loan!”
“Nika, don’t get worked up! It’s just a loan, nothing terrible…”
At that moment, her mother-in-law, Nadezhda Ivanovna, entered the room during yet another visit. As usual, she had come “to see the children,” but in reality she always brought along a heap of complaints and remarks.
“What’s all this noise?” she asked, entering with the air of the mistress of the house.
Family
“It’s nothing, Mom, everything’s fine. Nika is just a little upset about the loan,” Roma complained.
“What is there to be upset about?” the mother-in-law said, sitting down in the armchair and crossing her arms. “This is a family matter, and it’s your duty to each other.”
“What do you mean? Please explain,” Nika said.
“Is your duty to choose expensive gifts for yourself, while mine is to pay for them?”
“What’s wrong with that? You work, and your salary is good,” the mother-in-law said calmly.
“I understand. Excellent. And what about Roma? What does he do?”
“Roma is my son and, by the way, your husband. You should support him.”
“Husband?” Nika laughed. “Is that what you call a husband? A man who takes out a loan in his wife’s name because he can’t do anything himself and doesn’t even want to? He has attached himself to my back like a parasite!”
“Nika!” Roma tried to object. “That’s not nice! Why are you humiliating me? We are one family, after all!”
“All right,” Nika said, pressing her lips together. “Tomorrow I’ll handle it myself. And believe me, everything will be fine.”
She smiled strangely, as if to herself, and there was something in that smile that made Roma uneasy. In reality, Nika already knew exactly how she was going to sort out the situation.
“That’s my clever girl, daughter, clever girl!” Nadezhda Ivanovna nodded approvingly.
Nika spent the entire next day working while also taking care of her own business. She made several calls from online listings and arranged to meet one of the sellers that evening.
When she returned home that evening, she greeted her husband with the sweetest smile.
“Romochka! I have news for you today!”
“Oh? What is it?” he sat down on the sofa, suspecting absolutely nothing bad.
“You know, I paid off the loan for the crocodile-skin handbag.”
Bags
“Really? You did?” Roma practically jumped up. “I knew you were the best! How did you do it? Where did you get the money?”
“It was simple. I sold your car.”
Roma froze as if he had been struck with a hammer.
“You… you what? What do you mean, you sold the car?”
“I said I sold yours. Quickly and cheaply. I got exactly enough money to pay off that unfortunate loan.”
“Are you out of your mind?! What am I supposed to drive now?”
Nika smiled innocently.
“You can ride on the crocodile-skin handbag. You know, I read on the internet today that some bags are made from skin located on… delicate parts of crocodiles, and when you stroke them, they turn straight into a suitcase. The handbag you gave your mother wouldn’t happen to be one of those, would it?”
Suitcases and travel bags
Nika wanted to laugh. Roma turned crimson.
“You couldn’t have done that! Come on, tell me it’s a joke! That was my car! And selling it for peanuts is just… it’s just not normal!”
“But now you’re without a car, and I’m without debt. Everything is fair. And your mother has her handbag. A perfect arrangement, don’t you think?”
Nadezhda Ivanovna, who was at their place on yet another visit, ran into the room, drawn by her son’s shouting.
“What is happening again?”
“Mom, imagine this: Nika sold my car! This is a tragedy for me!” Roma shouted.
“So what? I did the right thing,” Nika shrugged. “After all, the loan is a family matter. Isn’t that right?”
“You shouldn’t have done that! You shouldn’t have! You had no right — that was his property!” the mother-in-law planted her hands on her hips. “And now without a car… did you think about that?”
“Did you ask me when you bought that handbag? When you took out the loan in my name?” Nika raised her head. “Now I consider everything fair.”
“This is simply outrageous! Just look how independent she has become!” Nadezhda Ivanovna shouted, staring at her daughter-in-law as if Nika had stolen something from her.
Roman tried to intervene.
“Nika, think about it! Think! We’re a family, we’re together, we’re one whole!”
Family
“A family, you say? Well then, let’s do this: as the most useless member of this family, pack your things and go live with your mother. Let her feed you and pay for your internet. And I’ll finally live a little for myself.”
Nika sat down on the sofa and demonstratively picked up her tablet, making it clear to everyone that the conversation was over. A few seconds later, she added with satisfaction:
“And you, Nadezhda Ivanovna, by the way, take your crocodile handbag and try stroking it gently.”
A couple of days later, Roma, exhausted by the constant slow-burning scandal, finally went to live with his mother. Nadezhda Ivanovna made no attempt to hide her indignation over it. But Nika simply ignored her.
For the first time in a long while, she felt light.
And now she knew for certain: they had understood — it was better not to mess with her.
Outside the window, the rain was still drizzling, but now that Saturday silence truly belonged to her.