(The following is a) a work of fiction, and b) what happens when you read too much clickbait.)

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It never ceases to amaze me how siblings can turn out so different from each other.  My husband has always been hard-working and responsible, and his sister Jeanie was just the same- owned her own business, paid her own way, even had a seat on her local council for a few years.  Their other sister, Imogen?  Completely different story.  She’s been out of work for the last few years, and she expects everybody else to pick up after her, including her children.  She’s constantly telling everybody she has no money, but she always seems able to afford new fake nails and knock-off Gucci bags- funny how that works!

Sadly, Jeanie passed away earlier this year.  It was really sudden- a bad reaction to a bee sting (she’d had them before, but this time she didn’t get to her medication in time).  The whole family was devastated, and my husband was, naturally, very keen to strengthen connections with the family he had left.  So today, we went to visit Imogen.  Boy, was that a mistake!

My husband had bought gifts for his nephews.  They never seem to get much, so he likes to spoil them when he can.  This time, it was a couple of games systems they’d had their eye on for a while.  When they tore off the paper and saw what it was, their eyes lit up like a Christmas tree.  Seeing that made our kind gesture completely worth it. 

Imogen, naturally, just seemed to be wondering where her gift was.  She instantly started dropping hints about my husband lending her some money.  Last time it was because her house needed doing up, this time she’s decided that one of her sons has special needs (he doesn’t- she just can’t be bothered to discipline him!) and needs this and that resource.  My husband tried to make it clear that she wasn’t getting anything, but she didn’t seem to hear. The sad thing is, no amount of money would make a difference to her life- not for long, anyway.  With her decision-making skills, she’d end up right back where she started or worse.

Then she started pouting and talking about their father… which, in her case, actually means talking about their father’s money.  When he was alive, she’d convinced herself that she was his favourite and that he would, of course, be leaving her the biggest share.  Luckily, when it came to it, the terms of the will were just vague enough that Jeanie was able to invest it wisely instead of just depositing it into Imogen’s bank account.  Anyway, my husband didn’t rise to the bait.  He started pointedly talking about his memories of their father, and how much more valuable they are than money… and naturally, she quickly lost interest.

Or rather, she did until lunch.  She served us a casserole she’d made herself… and if it was a typical example of her cooking, it’s not surprising that she usually lives on ready meals.  While we were trying to smile politely and choke the bitter thing down, she told us about a business one of her friends was trying to get off the ground.  Gearing up to ask us if we could give her the money for an investment, obviously.  The worst thing was the actual product they were selling:  Honey-based soap, honey-based hand cream, honey-based shampoo… I remember thinking, Seriously?  After what happened to Jeannie?  Has she honestly forgotten, or is she just that disrespectful?

Anyway, my husband had had enough.  While she was chattering about how honey was quite the coming thing, he put his fork down and stood up.  He pointed a finger at her and said, “Listen.  I’ve had about all I can take of you.  We came to this house to spend some time together as a family, but you’ve done nothing but talk about money since we got here.  You’re nothing but an entitled brat.  You can forget about me paying you to sit on the sofa and watch TV all day.  I will not be giving you one penny.”

Well!  That shut her up pretty quick.  All she could do was sit back and mumble, “No, I suppose you won’t.”

As soon as we got home, my husband went straight to bed.  He said he didn’t feel well.  I know what he meant- we were both so disgusted by her that we felt shaken to the core.  All we could do was hope that our nephews realise this is not the way families are supposed to treat each other.  They’ve got a few more years before they can finally get away from her, and we’re going to have to be there for them.

I’ll never understand people like Imogen.  They’re given so much in life, and they just want more, more, more.  In a horrible way, it’s actually hilarious, just watching her live her crazy life and wondering what she’ll do next.  Shame she’ll never be in on the joke.

The End