Grandma!» a nineteen-year-old long-haired brunette burst into the room where the old woman was. «Are you sleeping?»
«No, my dear,» replied a concerned Tamara Igorevna, sitting up in bed.
«I’m getting married!» Nadia joyfully announced.
«Really?!» The woman threw up her hands in surprise and gasped. «What about your studies?»
«Grandma, who needs those studies?» the girl grimaced, crossing her arms over her chest. «I’m not going to work as a teacher anyway.»
«And how do you plan to live?» Tamara Igorevna adjusted her glasses.
«I’m planning just fine. I told you, I’m getting married,» Nadia retorted, clearly tired of listening to her grandmother.
«You expect your husband to support you?» the woman shook her head. «He’ll leave you…»
«Where would he go?» the girl scoffed, flipping her long hair. «He’s as poor as a church mouse.»
«And you think you’re a bride with a dowry that he’d cling to?» Tamara Igorevna snorted contemptuously.
«Of course, he will!» Nadia exclaimed. «Actually, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.»
Hearing her granddaughter’s words, the old woman tensed up, already understanding what the conversation would lead to.
«Grandma, since I’m getting married, vacate my apartment,» Nadia declared, sitting down on the table.
«What apartment?» Tamara Igorevna squinted.
«This one! You gave it to me,» the girl began loudly chewing gum.
«I gave it to you with the understanding that you would inherit it after my death,» the woman replied anxiously with a smile.
«It’s not my fault that I’m getting married and you’re still alive. Not my fault!» Nadia jumped down to the floor.
«I have nowhere to go,» the grandmother objected, realizing her granddaughter wanted her out.
«That’s not my problem,» the girl blew a big bubble with her gum and loudly popped it. «There are special homes for that. Just go there.»
«How could you, Nadia? I raised you after Lyuda died,» Tamara Igorevna began wringing her hands in distress.
«Grandma, just don’t try to guilt-trip me, it won’t work,» the girl said irritably.
«No matter what you say, I’m not going anywhere!» the old woman declared defiantly. «This is my apartment, and I will die here!»
«That’s all I needed,» Nadia grimaced in disgust. «I give you a week!»
Soon, however, the girl realized that Tamara Igorevna was not planning to move out.
Nadia decided to share this trouble with her future husband, who immediately found a solution.
«Go to court, let them evict her by force,» suggested the man, who was just waiting for the opportunity to move into the two-bedroom apartment.
Nadia didn’t delay and went to court the very next day.
A month later, seventy-five-year-old Tamara Igorevna was forcibly evicted from the apartment.
Not knowing where to go, she placed her belongings under the staircase and stayed the night in the hallway.
In the morning, her neighbor Lyuba from the third floor noticed her, stopped in surprise at the sight of the woman sleeping on a fur coat, and touched her shoulder.
«Tamara Igorevna, why are you here?»
«Nadia kicked me out.»
«That snake! We should call the police!» Lyuba started to fuss.
«They’re the ones who evicted me. I gave the apartment to my granddaughter, so she’s the boss there,» tears welled up in the woman’s eyes.
«We need to do something, but for now, come to my place. You shouldn’t be sleeping in the hallway,» Lyuba helped Tamara Igorevna get up and move her belongings to her apartment. «What are these bruises on your arms?»
«Nadia was evicting me,» the old woman sighed bitterly.
Lyuba shook her head disapprovingly but held back from saying everything she thought about the ungrateful granddaughter.
In the evening, Lyuba went to a lawyer to discuss the situation surrounding the elderly woman.
«Is there any way to get the apartment back?» the neighbor asked after telling the lawyer Tamara Igorevna’s story. «Nadia even raised her hand to her grandmother.»
«We need to see the documents,» the young man pondered. «If there’s a loophole, there’s hope.»
«Here’s what I found at grandma’s,» Lyuba handed over a folder with tattered papers.
The man studied the documents intently. Ten minutes later, he looked up at the woman.
«There’s a chance! A big one!» the lawyer rubbed his sweaty palms with satisfaction. «I found something here that the foolish granddaughter overlooked!» he added, leaning back in his chair.
Lyuba tensed and nervously fiddled with the hem of her jacket, anxiously waiting for an explanation.
She genuinely felt sorry for Aunt Tamara, cruelly evicted by her own granddaughter into the hallway.
«The new owner of the apartment overlooked an important clause in the contract. Tamara Igorevna has the right to cancel it if she believes the beneficiary attempted to harm her life or health.»
When Lyuba told the disheartened woman that the apartment could still be reclaimed, Tamara Igorevna protested.
«No, Nadia is my granddaughter; I can’t kick her out onto the street,» she objected. «I’d rather go to a nursing home.»
No matter how much the neighbor tried to convince her that the granddaughter needed to be taught a lesson, Tamara Igorevna remained firm in her opinion.
The next day, she asked Lyuba to take her and her belongings to a nursing home.
Nadia, forgetting about the abandoned grandmother, got married and began living with her husband in the two-bedroom apartment.
However, she did not enjoy happiness for long. During one of the parties the couple loved to host, the apartment completely burned down.
Realizing there was nothing left and no money to repair it, Nadia’s husband left her for another woman.