She sat down at the kitchen table after dinner was cleared with a notebook and a pen, and she wrote a list of every expense in the household that she thought could be reduced without the house falling apart.
She had been managing the household account since Petra was taken because Dererick had handed her that responsibility quietly and she had simply absorbed it without complaint.
She worked through the list carefully. She brought it to Derek the next morning. She knocked on the office door and when he opened it, she handed him the notebook.
She said she had gone through the household expenses. She said she had found 12 areas where costs could be cut immediately without affecting the essential running of the house.
She said the savings would not solve the company’s problems, but they would reduce the pressure on the household accounts for the next several months.
He looked at the list. He looked at her and he said nothing for a moment.
Then he said, “How long did this take you?” She said, “Most of the previous evening.”
He turned back to the first page and read through it again more slowly. Every item was specific and clearly explained.
She had compared prices from three suppliers for each category and written the differences beside each line.
He put the notebook down on his desk. He said, “You did not have to do this.”
She said, “I know.” He said, “Thank you.” She said, “I will start on the first five items today.”
She turned and went back downstairs. One evening, Roselene was making pepper soup from scratch in the kitchen, the slow kind that takes 3 hours and fills the house with warmth.
Derek came in and sat on the stool. He watched her work without speaking. After a while, he said, “You could have kept quiet.”
She did not stop stirring. “I know.” She answered. He said, “Then why did you not?”
She thought for a moment. Then she said, “Because you sat on that stool.” He looked at her.
She looked back. He understood. He left the kitchen shortly after and she went back to her stirring.
While all of this was unfolding inside the house, a different kind of trouble was reaching Roselene from outside it.
Her brother called from home and told her that the small shop he had been running for the past year was in trouble.
The landlord of the building had raised the rent without much notice, and he could not cover the difference and still managed the household.
Their mother was still receiving follow-up care and those costs had not ended. He said he did not want to ask, but he did not know who else to call.
Roselene sat with the phone in her hand after the call and looked at the wall.
Uh, she was managing her money carefully. She had enough to help her brother for a short time, but not for long.
Not with the kind of shortfall he was describing. She thought about asking Derek. She pushed the thought away immediately.
He had already done more for her family than she had any right to expect from any employer.
She was not going to go back to him with another problem. She was going to solve this one herself.
She spent two evenings writing a careful letter to a small lending organization she had heard about from another household worker at a market she visited on her days off.
She outlined the situation for her brother’s shop clearly and honestly, including the family medical costs and the timeline of the rent increase.
She sent the letter by courier. Two weeks later, a response came. The organization had reviewed the application and approved a small business support loan for her brother at a manageable repayment rate.
