A HIGH PRICE / A SHORT STORY

Hi my dear friends. Today, a "short story" to read and to think about!

Hola mis queridos amigos. Hoy, un relato corto para leer y  ¡pensar!

Info: from Speak Up magazine.

Photos: haberdashers.es  /  euroinnova.edu.es  /  capital.es

A HIGH PRICE by Talitha Linehan

Ted examined his reflection. His shirt was too big for him, and there was a stain on the collar, but it was good enough. Besides, what did you expect for $3?

He felt a sense of satisfaction when he considered how much he'd paid for his shirt. He loved to go into the costly boutiques in the city centre to see how much their shirt costs: $50, $100, $500, then go to the charity shop where he bought all his clothes for a few dollars.

It wasn't that he couldn't afford expensive clothes. He could afford anything he wanted. He was a self-made millionaire. But he hated spending more money than he absolutely had to.

He checked the time. He'd have to leave soon to arrive at his brother James's house for dinner. He didn't visit his family often, but he never said no to a free dinner.

His brother had told him to take a taxi -a taxi would cost $20 for a twenty-minute-journey. James was an idiot to even suggest it!!

Ted was going to walk for twenty minutes to the bus stop, take a forty-minute bus journey, and then walk for another ten minutes to his brother's house, and it would cost him only $2.

He got off at the bus stop near his brother's house, feeling a familiar sense of satisfaction at the money he'd saved. He walked on tree-lines streets, past a park where a family was having a picnic and children were playing. This is the type of area his wife had wanted to move to after he'd taken early retirement, he hadn't wanted to retire because he'd liked working, but his accountant had told him he would make more money by retiring early and living off his pension and investments than by continuing to work.

He'd refused his wife's request. The houses here were exorbitantly expensive, whereas his house was accumulating in value. They'd argued about it many times, and his wife had eventually left him because of it. He'd been terrified that she'd try to take half of his money, but she'd told him she didn't want his money, that she just wanted to be happy.

At James' house, Ted sat at the dinner table with his brother, his brother's wife, Gloria and their five-year-old daughter, Jenny. He told them all about how much money he was making from his investments and all the things he did to save money: buying clothes at charity chops; collecting coupons that he used to buy groceries, going to the local library to use the Internet for free...

"What's an in-vet-ment?" asked Jenny.

"Investment", darling, corrected her mother Gloria. "It's like a piggy bank, where you put your money." She turned to Ted to explain. "We just got Jenny first piggy bank". "Yeah, I saved up $3 already, and if I save  $20, Mommy says I can go to Disneyland again next year. What are you saving up for, Uncle Ted?"

Jenny was adorable but Ted couldn't begin to imagine how much it cost to have a child. It was one of the reasons he'd married his wife, because she couldn't have children. She'd talked about adopting a child, but he'd refused to consider it. "Well, I'm saving up so I have enough money", said Ted.

"What's enough?" asked Jenny.

Following an awkward silence, Gloria said: "Well, you know, your uncle Ted has a lovely big house and lots of money."

"But what's the money for?" asked Jenny.

Nobody responded, and a few moments later her face brightened and she said: "Because it makes him happy, like Disneyland makes me happy."

Another silence followed this revelation, and Ted was uncharacteristically silent for the rest of the evening. He no longer felt like talking about his investments or his property value. He didn't even enjoy the free food.

He took the journey hom after dinner in a depressed state. As he walked to his house, he noticed how ugly the streets were. This was an industrial area, where people lived to work, not to live.

When he entered his house, he noticed how quiet it was; too quiet. He took out his mobile phone to check his investments, hoping they'd made him feel better. But the figures on the screen didn't give him the adrenalin rush they normally did.

His fingers scrolled to the list of phone numbers. There weren't many: his accountant, his broker, a few family members, his ex-wife Sandra...He found himself clicking on her number, and now it was ringing.

"I'm not sure that I'm happy," said Ted, when Sandra answered and they had the first real conversation they'd had in years. She spoke about how she'd felt while married to him, how he'd become more and more frugal over the years to the point that it made her miserable. Sandra said that if she returned to him, they'd have to do things differently: go on vacation, live somewhere nice like his brother did...

"But you know, those houses are a rip-off", he couldnt stop himself saying. "Five times the price that you pay here per square foot."

After a few moments of silence, Sandra sighed: "You're right, Ted. Goodnight."

And Ted sat in silence again, a self-made millionaire all alone in his big empty house.

VOCABULARY

-STAIN: mancha  /  -besides: además  /  costly: caras  /  charity: beneficencia  /  to get off: bajar  /  -to save: ahorrar  /  -to argue: discutir  /  eventually: finalmente  /  -piggy bank: cerdito hucha  /  -awkward: incómodo  /  -to brighten: iluminarse  /  -ugly: feo  /  -rush: ráfaga  /  -to scroll: desplazar  /  -rip-off: estafa  /