Carol sat, staring at her mobile device, propped up against the flower vase on the kitchen table.
ACCOUNT BALANCE: £-127.42 SAVINGS ACCOUNT BALANCE: £2,289.15
In that moment, she thought of her dad and the funny thing he used to say. "I 'aven't got a pot to piss in, love," Carol said aloud, "where am I gonna get fifty grand from?"
She pushed the thoughts from her mind and sought to remedy the situation—most importantly, without Arthur finding out. She didn't have anywhere near enough in her savings. Carol was near retirement and worked part-time, just enough to keep the bills paid. Arthur had been out of work for even longer, having taken early retirement due to ill health almost twenty years ago. After the collapse of the benefits system in the 2060s, any hope of government support evaporated. His military pension paid very little, his only saving grace was that he had continued to receive dividends from Aegis due to being one of the "founders", as all the ex-military men called themselves. Adam had been their lifeline, having helped his mum and dad pay off their mortgage, their largest debt, after he got his first big bonus at Calder Energy, around three years ago.
Carol knew Adam would never throw this in her face but, she couldn’t let him down. Carol fixed her posture, and spoke to the wall, "if he knew me and his dad were on our arses, he would worry about us. I will not have that boy any more stressed than he already is."
From the living room, Arthur could be heard snoring, as he had his mid-morning nap. He had been increasingly unwell since being forced to retire after he was injured during the war in 2064. He'd been hit by shrapnel during one of the bombs in Manchester City Centre and underwent surgery to repair several organs, on the table for almost 24 hours straight. Carol had once told one of her co-workers that "if he wasn't such a strong man, he wouldn't be alive, albeit frail, today." She believed that with all her heart but, after being married for so long, sympathy wears thin. Carol walked into the living room and kicked the couch to wake Arthur up. "Come on, get up. You'd die if it wasn’t too much effort," Carol said as she left the living room and headed back into the tiny entrance hallway where the stairs to the two bedrooms and bathroom were.
As she stomped up the staircase, Carol incoherently ranted about the washing not being done, or needing to be done. All Arthur heard was something about the washing. Arthur partially came round from his medication-induced slumber, having taken enough painkillers to help him cope, only to wave her away whilst growling that he didn't feel well.
It worked. After all these years, it was habit. Carol knew that if she tried to do anything, Arthur would be up and asking questions. But, if she pretended to be mad at him, barked about chores not being done, she knew that Arthur would say he wasn't feeling great and go back to sleep. It wasn't a lie. Not completely. But it was the type of routine, passive-aggressive behaviour that two people, having spent over 40 years together, develop to cope with each other. Arthur started to snore within seconds. It bought her time to go upstairs without intrusion.
Carol moved into the bedroom, stopped for a second to make sure Arthur was still out for the count, then slowly closed the door. The door made the thin printcrete walls vibrate, as the cracks in the decades-old building began to chatter. Carol crouched to the floor, her tired joints making more noise than the door did, as she reached for something underneath the bed.
After rummaging around blind for several moments, she finally felt the faux leather strap between her fingers. She pulled the attached bag free from its dusty home. This was her "emergency" grab-bag. Something her mum had always told her to keep. "Being married to a man is like wrangling a snake. It's fun at first, but eventually, you're gonna get bit. So, when that happens, do you keep the snake, or do you leave the bastard that bit ya? Always keep a bag ready just in case you need to split. Anyway, congratulations love, I'm really happy for you and Arthur."
Inside, she hoped to find an old bank or credit card, maybe even some cash—something, anything, that could help. She'd taken her mum’s advice, but it'd been so long since she had even seen the bag that she forgot what she stored in there. Empty, mostly. Except for receipts and some old bank notes that went out of circulation twenty-plus years ago. She threw the bag back under the bed and sank onto the edge of the mattress, letting the sharp pain be an excuse to stay seated while her mind raced.
Then it hit her..."Leo!"