When we were kids
Once upon a time there lived an engineer with his wife and their 3 kids - Ed, Macy, and Yuna in a small town. Ed was the oldest, followed by Macy, and Yuna was the youngest. The family was close but things weren’t easy for them. The engineer and his wife could barely able to provide for their children. They had just enough food and a tiny place to live in.
Despite having little money, the family was happy.
All 3 children had their own talents: Ed was the computer wizard, Macy was the quiet, fast learner, and Yuna was the smart one.
The engineer and his wife loved their children very much, but were unhappy because they could not provide for all of their needs.
As the children grew up, their expenses grew. “What will become of us? We cannot even feed our children; there is nothing left for ourselves!!!” they cried.
Oh, how they worried but did not worry their children. But soon it became harder and harder to take care of their children and the parents couldn’t keep up with their children’s demands.
“We have three different and demanding children. Whatever will we do?” they exclaimed.
The engineer lost his job and could not provide for his family any more.
They moved to an even smaller apartment with only one room.
All week, the engineer and his wife would work at home and once a week he would take the train to town to sell their wares.
It was not enough. The children turned teenagers and it was tougher everyday to provide for them.
“The children need to pick up chores and help with work”, they said. Soon, all the children were assigned jobs they would do after school and on weekends. The children cried and complained and threw a fit, but their parents were firm. This seemed to be the best way to manage expenses.
The children picked up chores in and around the house. They even helped their parents with the engineering work. It was not ideal but everyone made it work for sometime.
Between the five of them, they got things under control. The engineer also got his job back and things were better.
They were still often short on money but they moved back to their old apartment. The parents and children had their own rooms.
Everyone learned about managing expenses and only bought the most needed things.
Of the 3 kids, Ed and Yuna were the smartest and did very well in school. Soon they focused more on school and less on chores at home.
Macy soon picked up many of the chores and became proficient in many skills; cleaning the house, cooking, sewing, fixing the plumbing, electric work, grocery shopping, etc.
She didn’t enjoy it, but she knew it made a big difference for her parents.
Macy loved to read and would spend a lot of her free time reading books. The rest of her time, she spent daydreaming about how life would be if the stories in those books were true.
Macy tried her best, but she wasn’t able to complete everything and often was too tired at the end of the day. She grew jealous of her siblings and would often complain, “Why do I have to do everything? Why don’t Ed and Yuna do some?” she thought to herself, assuming her parents didn’t love her as much.
She started feeling like an outsider, useful only till she could help.
She longed to grow up and become wealthy so her family’s money troubles would be over and her parents would love her and give her time.
