I could almost guess the rest. She looked at me and smiled, “As you can probably imagine, my mother was too old and damaged to provide bone marrow for my brother. Not to mention my father, who, over the years, has long ceased to think of us as his own.”
“And you’re pregnant?” I could almost guess. They wouldn’t have had the nerve to ask Sheila Torres if they didn’t have to.
She nodded, “Well, I had a career bottleneck. I’m too old to have a baby, let alone a bone marrow extraction. So, my mother went to Sheila Torres’s foster parents. But no one could have imagined that my mother would go to extremes. She begged Sheila Torres’s foster parents for a long time, but they wouldn’t let her have the surgery. After all, they raised her by themselves, how could they bear to hurt her? Then my mother got stuck in front of their office, threatening them with death. But because of my mother, Sheila Torres’s father, trying to steer away from her, hit a car going the wrong way and died instantly.”
I froze, almost in disbelief. At the traffic lights, I stopped and looked at her, almost speechless. It was a long time before I said, “I can understand why Sheila Torres hates you guys so much. I do!”
It was evil enough to give birth to a child and not raise her. But since the daughter had a good attribution, had a new family, why should she hurt her? It was absolutely disgusting.
Rose drew a breath, bowed her head, and smiled bitterly, “And I know our family owes her a lot, and she deserves to hate us. But it was her birth mother. She’s just dumb.”
As I looked at her, I suddenly realized that sometimes people really can’t just take things at face value. I used to think Olivia was bad, Nova was bad, even Luna was bad.
But I’d never met anyone like Rose’s family. I smiled as I looed at her, “Rose, do you know who the worst, most pathetic person in the world is?”
She looked at me and said nothing.
The green light came on, and I started the car and looked ahead at the road, “If I were Sheila Torres, really, that would be a very kind way to get back at you, and I would do it worse than she did.”
Rose probably didn’t expect me to say this. She just looked at me, in shock.
I went on saying, “There are people in this world who are born poor, but it has nothing to do with lack of material things, it’s poverty of heart, like your mother, like you. Your mother did worse and more inhuman things than murder and arson. Because of her ignorance, she destroyed several children’s lives with her own hands again and again. Even so, she never felt that she was wrong. And Sheila Torres, she was unlucky because she was born into your family, but she was fortunate because she met her parents who held her in their hands and raised her to excellence.”
“And you? What did you do? She had a wonderful life and you just ruined it. Your mother killed the father who raised her, a great father who saved her from hell. But you killed your benefactor with your own hands. The point is, your mother probably still thinks she’s great, that she’s willing to sacrifice anything for her son. But had she thought about it? The one she hurt was also her child, but of a different sex. What did she do wrong?”
Rose bowed her head and wept, tears rolling down her cheeks and arms. Her voice was choked and helpless and ignorant, “But there’s nothing we can do. If she doesn’t agree to the marrow, my brother will die. We were all family. How could she let my brother die?”
I was speechless, “How could she? What’s the difference between your mother giving her birth and not raising her, and murder? Sheila Torres was abandoned by you for years. In all those years, you never went to see her. And now suddenly, you’re in trouble, and you go to her? You bound her with your so-called blood ties, made her suffer so much to give your brother bone marrow. Your family plays selfishness to perfection.”
I pulled over to the side of the road, barely able to breathe. Looking at her, I swallowed my anger and said, “Rose, you knew what your mother was doing was wrong, and you connived and covered her up, and that was complicit.”
Rose nodded, speechless for a moment.
After a while, she said, “But I don’t know what else we can do.”
“If you can, I suggest you talk to Sheila Torres calmly. If not, stay away from her. It’s not a sin not to be able to help her, but it’s a sin not to help her and to drag her down.”
“But my brother…” Rose’s eyes were red, “If he doesn’t have surgery, he’ll die!”
“Is Sheila Torres the only one related to him? Your mother’s health is broken. What about your father? If we were really looking for someone responsible for your brother, wouldn’t your father be the first person to go after?” I didn’t understand the mindset of his family anymore.
Her brow drooped, and she said with some sigh, “My father hasn’t been in touch with us for years, and he’s old now. My mother didn’t look for him because she was worried his health wouldn’t be able to handle it. At his age, the chances of him getting off the table are slim.”
As I looked at her, it occurred to me that sometimes the complexity of human nature was beyond my expectation.
In my opinion, they were cruel and hateful to Sheila Torres. But in Rose’s view, Sheila Torres, with her parents’ blood in her blood, deserved to do something for her brother.
With her parents’ ignorance and sister’s indulgence, Sheila Torres must have been disappointed at the family.
If this conversation continued, I might get angry and even scold Rose.
So, I cut the subject short.
We booked a restaurant and Rose and I went straight to the restaurant. We avoided Sheila Torres and had a pleasant conversation.
After dinner, it was late afternoon. Rose left early and I sat in the dining room for a while.
Dennis called and said he was coming to pick me up and take me home, so I just sat in the restaurant and waited for him.
There were only a few famous and delicious restaurants in City P. So I wasn’t that surprised to meet Luna and Samuel Lewis.
Luna didn’t look for another seat when she saw me. She pulled Samuel Lewis down to me, looked at the food on the table, and smiled, “Clara, have you eaten yet?”
I nodded, eyes resting on her face. After a slight hesitation, I said, “Why don’t you let the waitress clean up and start over?”
Luna and Samuel Lewis didn’t seem so bad compared to Rose’s parents. They were indeed harsh and cruel to outsiders, but they were tolerant and caring to their relatives.