Paying for the Electricity

My parents got divorced when I was 5 years old.

One evening I was lying in bed and I happened to overhear my mom talking on the phone with her friend. You know, when you’re little, you might not understand what exactly adults are saying, but you can tell when something’s wrong, right?

She usually nods at this point.

So, I slid off the bed and came up to the door. She was worried about how she was going to pay the electricity bill. The next day, when I got home from kindergarten, I took my red train—you know, I guess everyone had little toy trains like that as a kid—I gathered all my toys and went outside. I sold all my toys to the neighbor kids. I gave my mom 18 rubles and told her it was to pay for the electricity. She started crying.

Women usually tear up here.