During our family reunion, my mother-in-law thought it would be funny to push my 68-year-old father off the dock.
During our family reunion, my mother-in-law thought it would be funny to push my 68-year-old father off the dock.
His $4,100 hearing aids disappeared into the muddy pond, but she only laughed and accused him of overreacting. I didn’t argue with her. Instead, my husband and I took the $4,500 we’d been saving for her sixtieth-birthday cruise and used it to replace Dad’s hearing aids. When we finally told her where the money had gone, the expression on her face changed instantly.
My father came up beside the dock, coughing as he tried to steady himself.
The murky pond water rose past his waist, and his light blue shirt was completely drenched.
His first instinct was to reach for his left ear.
Then he checked the other.
Neither hearing aid was there.
The forty relatives gathered near the water suddenly stopped talking.
Cindy, my mother-in-law, remained on the dock with a paper plate in her hand.
She was grinning.
“Honestly, Leon, quit making such a fuss,” she said. “You should’ve taken those hearing things out before getting wet.”
But Dad couldn’t hear a word.
I knelt on the dock in my yellow summer dress and stretched my hand toward him.
My dad was sixty-eight years old.
For thirty-eight years, he’d worked for the local electric cooperative, climbing power poles to keep the lights on.
He was perfectly capable of keeping his balance.
He hadn’t slipped.
Cindy had shoved him into the water on purpose.
My husband Josh was farther up the hill, preparing brisket with his uncle.
When he finally heard everyone shouting and rushed down, I’d already helped Dad climb onto the bank.
I knew involving the sheriff during a family reunion would turn the whole gathering into a disaster.
Besides, Cindy was my husband’s mother.
I decided there had to be a better way to handle what she’d done.
For the remainder of the afternoon, Josh and two cousins waded through the pond, feeling around the muddy bottom with their feet.
They continued searching until the daylight disappeared.
The only thing they found was an old fishing lure.
There was no trace of Dad’s hearing aids.
Because I worked in a dental office, I knew how destructive water could be to small electronic devices.
Dad had bought his hearing aids three and a half years earlier.
The pair had cost $4,100.
Their protection against loss had lasted only three years.
And Medicare wouldn’t pay for another set.
While we were still near the pond, Dad leaned close so I could understand him.
“Please don’t fight with that woman over me, honey,” he said.
His voice was much louder than usual because he could no longer hear himself properly.
I didn’t confront Cindy.
But she had no idea what Josh and I had been planning.
For the previous eighteen months, we’d set aside $250 each month.
Our savings had reached $4,500.
We intended to spend it on a cruise departing from Galveston the following spring.
It was supposed to be Cindy’s surprise gift for turning sixty.
Although she’d somehow managed to tell nearly everyone at her hair salon about the vacation months earlier, around Christmas.
On Sunday night, Josh and I sat together on the steps behind our house.
“I think we should use that cruise money to get Dad new hearing aids,” I said.
Josh looked out across the backyard for a long moment.
Finally, he agreed.
“That money was always meant to be a gift,” he said. “Your father needs it more.”
Then he added something else.
“And when the time comes, I’ll tell Mom myself.”
I took Monday off from the dental office and drove Dad to a hearing specialist in Springfield.
A new pair of hearing aids came to $4,300.
After the appointment, Dad sat in the passenger seat, shaking his head repeatedly.
“Kayla, you shouldn’t be spending your hard-earned savings on an old man like me.”
I picked up my legal pad and wrote in large letters so he could read it.
We saved that money for someone we love. You’re family, Dad.
He studied the message quietly.
Then he folded his hands and said nothing more.
We went back on Thursday to have the replacement hearing aids adjusted and fitted.
Afterward, while crossing the parking lot, Dad unexpectedly stopped beneath a group of trees.
He turned his head slightly, concentrating on a sound.
“What’s that bird I can hear?”
A mockingbird was perched nearby, singing a series of different tunes.
Dad didn’t move.
He simply stood and listened, almost as though he was hearing birdsong for the very first time.
I lowered my eyes toward the pavement to hide the tears gathering in them.
That Saturday, Josh and I went to his mother’s house.
He drove, and I sat beside him.
When Cindy saw our car, she stepped off the porch to greet us.
“Well, look who’s here! My favorite boy!” she called happily.
But Josh didn’t hug her.
“Mom, there’s something we need to discuss. The cruise isn’t happening.”
Cindy burst out laughing.
It was the same careless laugh she’d made after pushing my father into the pond.
“Oh, Josh, you’re so funny!”
My husband didn’t smile.
“I’m serious, Mom.”
Her grin began to disappear.
“Kayla spent the money we’d saved on Monday,” Josh explained. “We bought Leon a new pair of hearing aids.”
Cindy looked at me in disbelief.
Then her eyes moved back to her son.
The happiness drained from her expression.
She opened her mouth, clearly ready to respond.
And I remained beside Josh, waiting to hear what she would say.
PART 2 — FINAL: My Mother-in-Law Pushed My 68-Year-Old Father Into a Pond and Laughed. Then She Discovered What Happened to Her Birthday Cruise Money.
For several seconds, Cindy simply stared at us.
Her smile had disappeared, but I could see that she was struggling to believe what Josh had just told her.
“The cruise isn’t happening?” she repeated.
Josh nodded.
“That’s right, Mom.”
She looked from him to me, then back again.
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