YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → My Son’s Mother-in-Law Spat on My Gift and Called Me Cheap — Until She Saw What Was Inside

My Son’s Mother-in-Law Spat on My Gift and Called Me Cheap — Until She Saw What Was Inside — Transcript

by Alpha Mom Stories · 10,458 words · 1,464 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:00My name is Mila Gilliam and I'm 71 years
0:03old. Last Christmas Eve in front of 26
0:06people, my son's mother-in-law leaned
0:09over my gift and spat on it. Then she
0:12smiled at me and said, "Cheep, just like
0:14you." My son was sitting right beside
0:17me. He didn't offend me. He bent close
0:20to my ear and whispered, "Mom, not
0:22tonight. Don't embarrass me." So, I
0:25stood up beside the Christmas tree. I
0:27looked toward the hallway where my
0:29assistant had been waiting for 25
0:31minutes and I nodded once. Open it. What
0:35came through those doors silenced a room
0:38full of people who had never been silent
0:40in their lives. But the gift was not the
0:43shocking part. The shocking part was
0:46what that woman had done more than 2
0:49years earlier and why she had spent six
0:51weeks making sure I never got into that
0:54room.
0:55Welcome back to Alpha Mom Stories, where
0:58quiet mothers finally get the last word.
1:01Drop a comment and be sure to subscribe.
1:04I work in a barn.
1:06People hear that and picture hay bales
1:08and a rusty tractor, and I have learned
1:10over the years to let them picture it
1:13because correcting people takes more
1:14energy than I like to spend before
1:16lunch. The barn sits 2 miles outside
1:19Vanney, Wisconsin on a gravel road that
1:22the county plows last. It was built in
1:251931 for 40 dairy cows, and I bought it
1:28in 1995 for less than the price of a
1:31nice car because the roof was half gone,
1:34and the farmer's widow wanted to move to
1:36Arizona. I spent three summers making it
1:39sound. Today, it has insulated walls,
1:42north-facing skylights, three work bays,
1:45and a humidity system that holds the air
1:47at 45% all winter because old wood
1:50cracks when the air gets greedy. The
1:53sign by the road says, "Gileiam
1:55Conservation. I am a furniture and clock
1:58conservator. Museums send me their
2:01chairs. Historic ins send me their
2:04clocks."
2:06A lake captain's family once sent me a
2:08desk that had been underwater for a week
2:10and it went home looking like it had
2:12never heard of a lake. I have one
2:14assistant. Her name is Romy Caro. She is
2:1831 and she came to me four years ago
2:20from a furniture factory where she
2:22sanded the same chair leg 800 times a
2:25day. I hired her because she asked what
2:27the finish was made of and nobody on a
2:29factory line asks that unless they want
2:32more. Since April Bay 3 had held
2:35something 7 ft tall under a canvas
2:37dropcloth. Only Romy and I knew what it
2:40was. By late November, on quiet nights,
2:43if you stood very still by the canvas,
2:46you could hear it ticking. If my son had
2:49lifted that canvas in November, this
2:51would be a much shorter story. That
2:53fall, Romy was working on a walnut
2:56dresser from a cottage on the bay. The
2:58owner swore it had only been a little
3:00damp in a spring storm. I asked her to
3:03run her palm along the bottom drawer and
3:05tell me what she felt.
3:07It's rough, she said, like the grain
3:10stood up. It did stand up. Now look at
3:12the side panel low by the feet. She
3:16crouched and found it a pale wavy line
3:18about 4 in off the floor, faint as a
3:22pencil mark running the whole length of
3:24the case. That was how high the water
3:27had come and how long it had stayed. You
3:30can sand a line like that and stain it
3:32and wax it and a buyer might never
3:34notice, but the line is still in there a
3:36quarter inch deep in the fibers, waiting
3:38for somebody who knows how to look. Wood
3:41remembers water, I told her. People
3:43forget. Wood doesn't. Romy wrote that on
3:47a strip of masking tape and stuck it to
3:49her toolbox, which is the closest thing
3:51to a compliment I get in that barn. I
3:54learned wood the hard way. At 18, I took
3:57a job on the finishing line of a
3:58furniture factory an hour north of
4:01Vanney, spraying lacquer on bedroom sets
4:03for eight years, while I took night
4:05classes two towns over. I earned my
4:08bachelor's degree at 30.
4:11My husband left in 1988 when our son
4:13Lane was six. That fall, I took that boy
4:16with me to a three-year conservation
4:18program out east where we lived in a
4:21student apartment with a hot plate and
4:23one good lamp. I came home with a
4:25master's degree and a job at the Marine
4:27House Museum. And in 1995, I bought the
4:30barn. I have one habit that served me
4:33well in that life and badly in this one.
4:36I don't explain myself. I let the work
4:38talk. That habit cost me in November.
4:42Lane was 43 that winter. He married
4:44Annth Nuggard in June of 2012, and she
4:48is the best thing that has ever happened
4:49to him, though I have never said so in
4:51front of him because a man that age
4:53should not need his mother to rank his
4:55blessings for him. Annth is an
4:58elementary school librarian. She was 39,
5:01soft-spoken, and the only person in my
5:03family who has ever asked to watch me
5:06work.
5:07They live in Fairbank about 40 minutes
5:09from my barn with my granddaughter Tegan
5:12who turned 11 in November and my
5:14grandson Ree who was 8 and believed I
5:17could fix anything including his scooter
5:20and his father. Lane has been
5:22embarrassed by my sawdust since high
5:24school. His friend's mother sold real
5:27estate and wore heels. His mother wore a
5:29canvas apron and smelled like
5:31tarpentine. I understood it then and
5:34mostly I understood it now. The summer
5:38had been hard on him. On July 18th, the
5:41farm equipment parts company he works
5:43for, Wickliff Implement Supply, laid off
5:4640 people and cut his job to 4 days a
5:49week. Then on September 14th, his
5:52father-in-law's son offered him a way
5:54out. Annth's mother is Edwina Thorsby.
5:58She was widowed in 2019 and remarried in
6:012021 to Bighgam Thorsby, whom everyone
6:04calls Brig. Brig was 72 and used to own
6:08four car dealerships along the lake
6:10shore.
6:12Now his son Sully runs them and Sully
6:15offered Lane the job of sales director
6:17starting February 2nd at $158,000
6:20a year. It would be made official, Lane
6:23told me at the family Christmas Eve
6:24dinner. Brig has disliked me since May
6:27of 2022 when he asked me to restore his
6:30late mother's dining set as a favor. I
6:33quoted him $4,200,
6:36which was half my rate. He called me a
6:38tradeswoman with heirs. Edwina had
6:40always been cool with me. For 13 years,
6:43she was cool and polite and careful.
6:46Then somewhere around Halloween, cool
6:48turned into something else. The first
6:51sign came at Tegan's birthday party on
6:53Sunday, November 9th, at Lane and
6:55Annth's house. I gave Tegan a jewelry
6:58box I had made from a cherry board I'd
7:00been saving for 20 years. It had a tray
7:03that lifted out and her name inlaid in
7:05maple across the lid. She opened it,
7:08gasped, and ran to show her friends,
7:11which is the only review I have ever
7:12needed.
7:14Edwina was standing by the punch bowl
7:16with her friend Gilda from Bridge Club.
7:18Edwina was 67 slim and always dressed as
7:21if someone might photograph her. She
7:24watched Tegan run past and said, "Not
7:26quite quietly enough." "Homemade again.
7:29Some of us actually shop." Gilda
7:32laughed. My son laughed, too. A beat
7:34late the way he laughs at his boss's
7:36jokes. A little later, while I was
7:38helping Annabeth carry plates, Edwina
7:41wrinkled her nose as I passed. Does
7:43anyone else smell a garage?
7:45What she smelled was orange oil and
7:48shellac. I had been French polishing a
7:50cabinet door that morning, and no amount
7:52of soap gets that out of the creases of
7:54your knuckles. I have smelled like that
7:57for 50 years. I've been called worse
7:59things by a dresser. Annth squeezed my
8:02hand in the kitchen and whispered,
8:04"Ignore her. She's been in a mood for
8:06weeks." On my way out, I stopped in
8:09their front hall to button my coat.
8:12It is a lovely hall with a 9- ft ceiling
8:15and a curved staircase. And in the
8:17corner by the stairs, there is an empty
8:19space where Annabth has never put
8:21anything. Not a plant, not a chair, not
8:24a coat rack. She keeps that corner clear
8:27the way some people keep a grave tidy. I
8:30knew exactly what belonged there. It was
8:32standing under a canvas dropcloth in my
8:35barn. Annabeth's father was Lars Nugard.
8:39He taught shop at the high school for 34
8:41years. And in his own garage, he built
8:44clocks. Between 1998 and 2003, he built
8:48the best one he ever made, a 7 foot4
8:52cherry tall case clock with a painted
8:55moon dial and a deep slow strike for his
8:58only daughter. On Christmas Eve of 2003,
9:02he screwed a brass plate inside the
9:04waist door. It read for Annabth when you
9:08have a home of your own. Dad Christmas
9:122003.
9:14That night at 9:00, he handed her the
9:16crank key and let her wind it for the
9:18first time. They did it together every
9:21Christmas Eve for 16 years.
9:25Lars died in March of 2019 in his garage
9:29with a chisel in his hand. Annth kept
9:31winding his clock every Christmas Eve
9:33first with her mother and later in that
9:36same house standing empty after Edwina
9:39remarried. The clock couldn't come to
9:42Lane and Annth yet because their rented
9:44duplex had 7 ft ceilings. Then in August
9:47of 2023, Edwina called her. Brigg's
9:51basement had flooded in a storm. Edwina
9:53said the clock had been stored down
9:55there since the old house sold that
9:57spring. It was ruined and a cleanup crew
10:00had hauled it away. Annth sat at my
10:03kitchen table that week and cried until
10:05she had the hiccups. Two months later,
10:08she and Lane closed on the house in
10:10Fairbank and she left the corner by the
10:12stairs empty. On April 8th, 2025, a
10:16dealer named Wy Penner, who owns Penner
10:19and Daughter Antiques in Hume and sends
10:21me repair work, backed his truck up to
10:24my barn with a tall case clock that
10:26needed a movement overhaul. I opened the
10:29waist door and read the plate.
10:32I bought it from him that afternoon for
10:34$6,800.
10:36I noticed something that day, too. There
10:39was no tide line on the case, no raised
10:41grain at the base, no rust on the iron
10:44weights. Wood remembers water, and that
10:47clock didn't remember any. I told myself
10:51the crew must have rescued it before the
10:53water rose. I should have asked Wy more
10:55questions in April.
10:585 days after the birthday party on
11:00Friday, November 14th, Edwina sent an
11:03email to the whole family. I wasn't on
11:06it. Annth forwarded it to me that
11:09evening with one line on top. Mom forgot
11:12you. I fixed it. Edwina had not
11:14forgotten me. Edwina keeps her bridge
11:16scores in pen. The subject line said
11:20Christmas Eve 2025. The whole family at
11:24the Bram Hall Inn. The Bram Hall is a
11:27grand old inn built in 1858 in Sumar
11:30Harbor on the lake about an hour and 40
11:32minutes from my barn. Brig and Edwina
11:35had held their own Christmas Eve dinner
11:37there since 2022.
11:40This year, the email said everyone would
11:42join them. Brig would cover the Thorsby
11:44side. All other guests were asked to
11:47contribute $145
11:49per plate. There were rules set out in
11:52bold. Cocktail attire, arrival at 5:30,
11:56and my favorite line, which I read twice
11:58to make sure I hadn't imagined it. No
12:01homemade gifts this year, please. were
12:03not a craft fair. For 13 years,
12:07Christmas Eve had been at Lane and
12:09Annabeth's place. I brought the ham. The
12:12kids opened one present each. At 8:30,
12:16Annth and Lane would bundle the kids
12:18into the car and drive to her parents'
12:20old house so she could wind her father's
12:23clock at 9. After the clock was gone,
12:26they still kept dinner at their own
12:28house. It was the one night of the year
12:31that belonged to us. Now it belonged to
12:34the Bram Hall Inn at $145
12:37a plate under rules that seemed written
12:40with one guest in mind.
12:43I paid my $145 that same night online,
12:47and I chose the prime rib. Edwina had
12:49never once in 13 years cared where I
12:52spent Christmas Eve. So why did she
12:54suddenly care so much? Thanksgiving was
12:56at Lane's house on Thursday, November
12:5927th. I arrived at 2:00 in my 2009
13:03station wagon, which has 190,000 m on it
13:06and has never once failed to start in a
13:09Wisconsin January, which is more than I
13:11can say for most men I've known. Edwina
13:14and Brig pulled in behind me in a white
13:16sedan the size of a boat. Edwina stood
13:19in the driveway and looked at my car for
13:20a long moment, the way you'd look at a
13:23dog that had wandered into a wedding.
13:26Still running that thing, Mila.
13:29Every morning, I said, I had brought a
13:31hostess gift, as I always do. It was a
13:34bowl I'd turned on my lathe from a piece
13:36of black walnut that came out of a
13:37hundred-year-old barn beam.
13:40It took me two evenings to rough it out
13:423 weeks to let it dry, and one more
13:45evening to finish it with oil and wax
13:47until it glowed like dark honey. Annth
13:50loved it. She set it in the middle of
13:52the kitchen island and filled it with
13:54clementine.
13:5520 minutes later, I came back into the
13:58kitchen for a dish towel and found
13:59Edwina alone at the island. She had
14:02emptied the clementine onto the counter.
14:04She was turning my bowl over in her
14:06hands, reading the bottom where I burned
14:08my initials and the year. She saw me and
14:12didn't put it down. She said it very
14:14deliberately on the counter beside the
14:16trash can. Then she leaned close to me,
14:19close enough that I smelled her perfume
14:21and whispered four words. Cheap, just
14:24like you. Nobody else heard it. The
14:28football game was loud in the living
14:29room, and Brig was explaining something
14:31to Sully about interest rates. I said
14:34nothing at all. I picked up my bowl, put
14:37the Clementine back in it, and set it in
14:39the middle of the island where Annabeth
14:40had placed it. She'd said it like she'd
14:42practiced it. We sat down to eat at 4.
14:45There were 14 of us around two tables
14:48pushed together and I was placed at the
14:50corner where the table legs meet and
14:52your knees have to choose a side.
14:54Halfway through dinner, Tegan, who had
14:56been unusually quiet, asked a question
14:59nobody expected.
15:01Grandma Mila, did you know? Grandpa
15:03Lars, I did. I said he was a lovely man.
15:07He built the most beautiful clock I
15:09ever. Some of us," Edwina said loudly,
15:13setting down her fork. "Don't need
15:15reminders at the dinner table." The
15:18table went quiet. Tegan looked at her
15:20plate. Annth's face went pink. I opened
15:23my mouth to finish the sentence for my
15:25granddaughter gently because an
15:2711year-old who asks about her
15:29grandfather deserves an answer. Before I
15:32could, my son leaned across the corner
15:34of the table and put his hand on my
15:37wrist.
15:38Mom, he said quietly. Not tonight. Three
15:43words. He said them the way you'd tell a
15:45dog to get off the couch. Brig chuckled
15:48from the head of the table and reached
15:50for the gravy. Some people don't know
15:52when to stop. I looked at Lane. He
15:56wouldn't look back at me. He was
15:57watching Brig, waiting to see if he'd
16:00done the right thing. I finished my
16:02dinner. I complimented the stuffing,
16:04which was very good. At 7:10, I told
16:08Annabeth I had an early morning, which
16:10was true because I have an early morning
16:13every day of my life. She walked me out
16:16to my car in the cold, hugging her
16:18elbows. I'm so sorry. I don't know
16:21what's gotten into her. It's not your
16:23job to apologize for your mother. I told
16:27her. She looked like she wanted to say
16:29more. She didn't. I drove home in the
16:31dark and the clock was waiting for me. I
16:34couldn't sleep that night, so at a/4 to
16:362, I put my boots on over my pajamas and
16:39walked across the yard to the barn.
16:42Bay 3 was dark except for the green glow
16:45of the humidity readout. I pulled the
16:47canvas back and sat on my stool in front
16:49of Lars Neward's clock. By then, I had
16:52rebushed every pivot hole in the
16:54movement, replaced a cracked suspension.
16:58spring cleaned the painted moon dial
17:00with a swab and distilled water and
17:02spent 11 weeks on the case alone. That
17:04week I had hung the weights and started
17:07it running for the first time since it
17:09left Edwina's hands. At 2:00 it struck
17:13two deep notes slow and round the kind
17:15of sound you feel in your breastbone
17:17before you hear it. It was the first
17:19time that clock had struck an hour in
17:21more than 2 years. I sat in the dark and
17:25listened to it fade, and I thought about
17:27my son's hand on my wrist. I don't blame
17:30Lane for wanting peace. He grew up in a
17:32student apartment with a hot plate. He
17:34grew up watching his mother come home
17:36with finish in her hair.
17:38When a man like Brigadier Thorsby looks
17:41at you with approval and offers you
17:43$158,000
17:45a year, it must feel like being invited
17:47into a warm house after a long walk in
17:50the cold. But I kept coming back to
17:52Edwina for 13 years. She had been cool
17:55to me. Cool is fine. I have had cool
17:58clients for decades. Cool doesn't move
18:01Christmas Eve to an inn and write rules
18:04in bold. Cool doesn't set a walnut bowl
18:06beside a trash can and whisper.
18:09Something had changed and I could almost
18:11put my finger on when
18:14it was sometime after the end of
18:15October. On Wednesday, December 3rd,
18:19Lane drove out to the barn. He hadn't
18:21been inside it in almost 2 years. He
18:24stood in the doorway in his goodwill
18:25coat, looking at the clamps and the
18:27chisels and the glue pots, the way he
18:29used to look at them at 15, as if they
18:31might get something on him. Mom, I need
18:34to ask you something. Please don't take
18:36it the wrong way. I'll do my best, I
18:39said.
18:41Would you skip the end this year? He
18:43said it fast. Sully's announcing my
18:45offer at dinner. Briggs giving a toast.
18:47It's a big night for us. And I would
18:50ruin it. How? I asked. Briggs says
18:52you'll make a scene. I kept my voice
18:55level. When have I ever made a scene,
18:57Lane? Uh, he didn't answer that because
19:01there isn't an answer. Instead, he
19:03looked at the floor and said the part
19:04he'd really driven out to say. Edwina
19:07says you've been telling people you're
19:09struggling moneywise. She says you're
19:12counting on my raise. I set down the rag
19:15I was holding. I have never asked anyone
19:17for money in my life. Not your father,
19:20not the bank, not you. I know. I just He
19:24rubbed the back of his neck. She's my
19:26mother-in-law mom. I have to live with
19:28these people. While I was deciding what
19:31to say to that, he wandered toward bay
19:33three and reached for the edge of the
19:35canvas the way a boy reaches for a
19:37wrapped present under a tree.
19:40Romy, who had been sanding a chair
19:42spindle in the corner the whole time,
19:43said without looking up. Wet shellac. I
19:47wouldn't. Lane pulled his hand back as
19:50if the canvas were hot. 5 minutes later,
19:52he was gone. Tires spitting gravel. Romy
19:56kept sanding. It's dry, by the way. I
19:59know, I said. Let me stop here for a
20:02moment. If you have ever been called
20:04cheap by someone who never once asked
20:06what anything cost you, I'd like to hear
20:09about it. Tell me in the comments where
20:11you're watching from tonight and what
20:13you made with your own two hands that
20:15somebody didn't understand. I read every
20:18one of them, usually with sawdust on my
20:20sleeves. Now, back to December. On
20:23Tuesday, December 9th, I got a text from
20:26Edwina. It was the first text she had
20:28ever sent me directly. Reminder for
20:31Christmas Eve cocktail attire. And
20:34please park on the street, not in the
20:36inlot. Brig's friends notice cars. I
20:39read it twice.
20:41Then I laughed out loud in my kitchen
20:43because it takes real dedication to be
20:45rude about a parking space. My old wagon
20:48is parked outside three museums and a
20:50cathedral, and nobody there ever filed a
20:53complaint. But I did think about what to
20:55wear. I don't have many dressy things. I
20:58do have a dusty rose blazer I bought for
21:00a museum board dinner, good wool,
21:02beautifully cut, and a cream silk
21:04chamisole that goes under it. I took
21:06them both to the dry cleaner in Varnney
21:08that week. I also got my hair cut for
21:11the first time since summer. My hair is
21:13chestnut going gray, and the young woman
21:16at the salon cut it into a lob just at
21:19my jaw, parted on the side. She said it
21:22made me look like a lawyer. I told her
21:24I'd take it. The night before the
21:26cleaners, I scrubbed my hands for 10
21:28minutes with a nail brush, trying to get
21:29the orange oil out of my knuckles. Then
21:32I stopped, looked at my hands, and
21:34turned off the water. I decided I would
21:37go to Christmas Eve, smelling like my
21:39work.
21:403 days later, Annabeth called me. She
21:43was whispering.
21:45It was Friday, December 12th, just after
21:473:00 in the afternoon. Annth was calling
21:50from her car in the school parking lot.
21:52I could hear kids shrieking at the buses
21:54in the background. Mila, can I ask you
21:57something awful? You can ask me
21:59anything, I said. Did you ask Lane for
22:02$10,000?
22:04I was in my wagon on my way back from
22:06delivering a rocking chair to a client
22:08in Vanney, and I pulled onto the gravel
22:10shoulder and put it in park before I
22:12answered. No, honey. I've never asked
22:14Lane for a dime. She let out a long
22:17breath. I knew it. I knew it. Mom told
22:21me you did. She said you were angling
22:23for the job money. That Lane was too
22:26proud to tell me. Your mother is
22:28mistaken. She's been like this for
22:30weeks, jumpy, snapping at Brig. She
22:33stood in my kitchen on Sunday and cried
22:35about nothing. Annth paused and she
22:38asked me the strangest question. What
22:41question? I asked.
22:44She asked if you'd ever been to the
22:46Penner place in Hume, the antique store.
22:49She asked like it was nothing like small
22:51talk, but she asked twice. My hand
22:54stopped on the steering wheel. There is
22:56no reason on earth for Edwina Thorsby to
22:59know the name of a small antique dealer
23:01in Hume, Wisconsin, who sends me repair
23:04work. She doesn't buy antiques. She buys
23:07new things and calls them timeless. I've
23:10been there, I said carefully. I do
23:12business with Wy Penner. Oh, well that's
23:16that then. Annth sounded relieved. I
23:20don't know why she cares. I did not know
23:22either. Not yet, but I knew who could
23:25tell me. I didn't call Wy that weekend.
23:29I wanted to. But I have learned that
23:31questions asked in a hurry get answers
23:34given in a hurry. And I wanted the whole
23:37truth, not the quick version. Besides, I
23:41had a practical reason to call him. And
23:43it was sitting right in front of me. On
23:46Monday morning, December 15th, Romy and
23:49I began the final regulation and the
23:51last of the casework.
23:54A tall case clock like Lars's is wound
23:57with a crank key, a brass handle that
23:59fits onto two square arbors in the dial
24:02one for the time train and one for the
24:04strike. You turn it and it lifts the
24:07heavy iron weights inside the case back
24:09up to the top. Without that key, a clock
24:12like that runs for eight days and then
24:15stops forever. The original key had
24:18never come with the clock. In April, Wy
24:21had told me he would ask the seller
24:24whether she still had it. I had never
24:26heard back, and I had assumed the answer
24:28was no. While I checked the strike
24:30train, Romy lay on her back on a moving
24:33blanket with a shop vacuum cleaning the
24:35inside of the base where a hundred
24:37little things collect in a clock that
24:40has been moved around.
24:42Mila, she said, "You'll want to see
24:45this." She handed me a paper tag on a
24:48loop of white string. It had slipped
24:50down behind the plinth block where
24:52nobody would ever see it unless they
24:55were lying on their back with a
24:56flashlight. It was one of Wley's stock
24:58tags.
25:00I had seen hundreds of them. Penner and
25:03daughter, a price written in pencil, and
25:05a stock number stamped in purple ink. P
25:08and D230714.
25:10WY stock numbers are dates. Everybody in
25:13the trade around here knows that. Year,
25:16month, day, July 14th, 2023.
25:20I picked up my phone and called Hume.
25:23Mila,
25:24you finished that knee guard clock yet?
25:28Almost, I said. I need to ask you about
25:30the seller. Hold on, he said. Let me get
25:34the card. I could hear him walking
25:36through his shop, past the brass bells
25:38on the door into the back office where
25:41he keeps 40 years of index cards in
25:44green metal boxes. Wy Penner does not
25:47trust computers. He trusts cards and his
25:50cards have never lost a sale. A drawer
25:53squeaked open, paper shuffled. "Here we
25:57go," he said. "Tall case clock cherry
26:00moon dial maker L. Nygard signed on the
26:03movement. Bought July 14th, 2023." "Who
26:07sold it to you, Wy?" I asked. "A Mrs.
26:10Edwina Thorsby Sumner Harbor."
26:14Paid her 3,400
26:16by check. I sat down on Romy's stool. I
26:19didn't decide to. My niece decided for
26:22me. Did she say why she was selling?
26:26Said her new husband didn't want it in
26:28the house. Wanted it gone before some
26:30big party. I didn't ask more. You don't
26:33in this business. He paused. Is
26:36something wrong? Then I asked what I had
26:39called to ask. Did you ever ask her
26:42about the original key? Oh, sure. Took
26:45me long enough. I called her on October
26:4728th. told her a conservator over in
26:50Vanney had it now. Doing a beautiful
26:52job, I said. Mrs. Gilliam asked if she
26:55had the key or any of the makaker's
26:57drawings. What did she say? I said
27:00quietly. Funny thing, she went quiet for
27:03a long time. Then she said she'd never
27:06had a key and she hung up on me. Wy
27:09chuckled. Not everybody's a clock
27:11person. I thanked him. I told him,
27:14"Merry Christmas." I hung up.
27:17Then I sat very still in my barn with
27:19Lars Neward's clock ticking at my back
27:22and I did the arithmetic out loud so
27:24Romy could check me. Edwina sold the
27:27clock on July 14th, 2023. The storm
27:30flooded Brigg's basement on August 11th,
27:332023.
27:344 weeks later, Edwina told her grieving
27:38daughter that a flood destroyed a clock
27:40she had already sold for $3,400.
27:44And on October 28th, 2025, she had found
27:48out that I had it. Romy turned off the
27:51shop vacuum and sat down on the moving
27:53blanket with her back against the
27:54workbench. The flood, she said slowly.
27:58Annth told you about the flood. She
28:01cried at my kitchen table the Sunday
28:03after, August 13th. I made her grilled
28:06cheese and she couldn't eat it. I looked
28:09up at the clock. Brig's basement really
28:11did flood that Friday. Half of Sumar
28:14Harbor had water. Edwina didn't invent a
28:17storm. She borrowed one. I showed Romy
28:20what I had seen in April and told myself
28:22not to think about.
28:25I lifted the base panel and showed her
28:27the plinth, the lowest board of the
28:28case, the one that would have stood in
28:30any water on that basement floor. Clean,
28:34no pale line, no raised grain. Then I
28:37showed her the weights cast iron, the
28:39kind that rust orange overnight in a wet
28:42room. There wasn't a speck. Wood
28:45remembers water, Romy said quietly,
28:48reading it off her toolbox. And this
28:51wood never met any. We sat there a
28:53while. The pendulum swung. The second
28:56hand on Lars's dial stepped forward and
28:59forward and forward. Then I went back
29:02through everything since Halloween and
29:04every piece fell into a new place. The
29:08inn on Christmas Eve. The one night
29:10Annabeth would think of her father's
29:12clock. The rule against homemade gifts.
29:16The whisper over my walnut bowl. The
29:19story that I was broke and fishing for
29:21Lane's rays. The question about the
29:24Penner place in Hume. None of it was
29:27about me. All of it was a woman building
29:30a story about me before the truth could
29:33arrive in a crate.
29:35"She's afraid of you," Romy said. "No,"
29:39I said. "She's afraid of a clock." "And
29:42fear, in my experience, makes people do
29:44loud things." "That afternoon, I made a
29:47new key. I have a 1962 metal lathe in
29:51the back corner of the barn. I chucked a
29:54short bar of brass and turned the
29:55barrel, then filed the square socket so
29:57it would slide onto Lars's winding
29:59arbors with just a whisper of play. I
30:03bent and riveted a crank arm and turned
30:06a little wooden handle from a scrap of
30:08the same cherry I'd used to patch a
30:10split in the clock's hood so that the
30:12key and the clock would match. On the
30:15flat of the crank with a hand graver, I
30:18cut two letters. A N. Annth Nugarard,
30:22the name on the plate, the name of the
30:25girl who first turned that crank in
30:272003.
30:28Romy watched me work for a long time
30:30without speaking. Then she asked the
30:33question I had been asking myself all
30:35day. Are you going to tell Annabeth what
30:38her mother did? I set the key down on a
30:41square of navy felt.
30:44I'm going to give Annth her father's
30:46clock, I said. That's all I ever plan to
30:49do. If anyone asks me a question about
30:51it, I'll answer it truthfully.
30:55And if Edwina asks, I didn't hesitate,
30:58especially if Edwina asks. Romy nodded
31:01slowly. She's worked for me long enough
31:04to know that I don't bluff and I don't
31:06scheme. I cut a square of brown craft
31:08paper and folded a small box. I laid the
31:11felt in it and the key on the felt and a
31:14card in my own handwriting that said,
31:16"Winded at 9." I tied it with plain
31:18cotton twine the way I wrap everything
31:20that leaves my barn. It looked exactly
31:23like what it was. Cheap paper, cheap
31:27string.
31:28Edwina didn't wait for Christmas Eve to
31:31ask her question. 3 days later, on
31:33Thursday, December 18th, at 20 minutes
31:35to 8 in the evening, my phone rang. The
31:38screen said Edwina Thorsby in 13 years.
31:43Edwina had never once called me. I let
31:46it ring twice so I could put down my
31:47tea. Mila
31:50Harra. Her voice was pleasant, the voice
31:52she uses on waiters. I'll be brief. I
31:55know you've been busy in that barn of
31:57yours. I'm always busy at Wina. Then she
32:01got to the point. Whatever you think
32:03you're bringing to the inn, don't. I
32:06said nothing. Silence is a tool, and I
32:09have used it on lawyers, museum
32:10directors, and one very rude bishop."
32:14She went on as if I had agreed. Annth
32:16has grieved enough. She doesn't need
32:19some sad old thing to cry over at
32:21Christmas. It would be cruel. You must
32:23see that. I'm bringing a Christmas gift,
32:27I said. That's all. Then let me be very
32:30clear. The waiter voice was gone now.
32:34Pull some stunt at that dinner and Lane
32:36will never forgive you. I'll see to it.
32:40I have been his family for 13 years. You
32:43have been his embarrassment for 40. I
32:46have been called many things, but that
32:48one had a craftsman's finish on it. I'll
32:51give her that. Is there anything else,
32:54Edwina? She answered with the last thing
32:57she had.
32:59You're a cheap, bitter woman, and
33:01everyone knows it. I'll see you on
33:03Christmas Eve," I said. She hung up. She
33:07hadn't asked me a single question. She
33:09hadn't said the word clock. She had
33:11threatened me over a gift she had never
33:13seen in a box she had never been shown.
33:16And she had done it with the voice of a
33:18woman who already knew exactly what was
33:21inside. She had just told me precisely
33:25what she was afraid of. The next
33:28evening, Friday, December 19th, my son
33:31called. I knew from his first breath
33:33that Edwina had gotten to him first.
33:36Mom, what are you doing right now?
33:38Eating soup. I said, don't. Please don't
33:42joke. He sounded like he was pacing.
33:46Edwina says you bought some old clock at
33:48an antique store. She says you had a
33:50plate engraved with Annabeth's name on
33:52it. I put down my spoon. Lane kept
33:55going. She says you'll wheel it into the
33:57inn and pretend it's Lars's to guilt
34:00Annabeth. To make everybody feel sorry
34:03for you. Is that true? Is it true that I
34:07have a clock? Yes.
34:09Is the rest of it true? No. So, you do
34:13have something? He let out a breath that
34:15crackled over the line. Mom Annabth
34:18cried for months over that clock. A
34:20knockoff would destroy her. Do you get
34:23that? Have I ever lied to you, Lane? He
34:26didn't answer. In 43 years, he has never
34:29been able to answer that question with
34:31anything but silence because the answer
34:34is no. And he knows it. Finally, he said
34:37it. I'm asking you one time. Not this
34:41Christmas. Not tonight. Not at the end,
34:43not in front of Sully. Give me one
34:46night. One night where nobody sees the
34:48guy whose mother lives in a barn. That
34:51one went in deep. I'll admit it. I sat
34:54at my table with the phone against my
34:56ear and for a moment I was 33 again with
34:59a six-year-old asleep on a mattress
35:01beside the hot plate. "I love you," I
35:04said. "I'll see you Wednesday." "Mom,
35:07just don't." The line went dead. I
35:10walked out to the barn and stood in
35:12front of Lars's clock for a long time. I
35:15had a decision to make.
35:18Before I tell you what I decided, let me
35:20ask you something. Has someone you love
35:22ever asked you to stay quiet so they
35:24could stay comfortable? I'd like to know
35:26what you did. Tell me in the comments.
35:28And if this story is keeping you company
35:31tonight, tap that subscribe button so
35:33the next one finds you. Here's how I
35:36thought it through. Standing in my barn
35:38at 10:00 at night. I could deliver the
35:40clock to Lane's house the day after
35:42Christmas. Quiet, private. But Edwina
35:45had already told Lane it was a knockoff.
35:47and Lane had surely told Annth a crate
35:50on their porch on December 26th would
35:52look exactly like the stunt Edwina had
35:54promised. Annth might not even open it.
35:57And there was the hour. For 20 Christmas
36:00Eves, Annth had wound that clock at
36:039:00.
36:05Edwina had picked the room for this
36:06Christmas Eve and the rules and the
36:09price of a plate. She had picked all of
36:11it so that I would stay home. She did
36:15not get to pick the hour. I wouldn't
36:17accuse anyone.
36:19I wouldn't make a speech. I would give
36:21my daughter-in-law her father's clock at
36:239:00 on Christmas Eve. And if anyone
36:26asked me a question, I would answer it.
36:28On Saturday morning, I called the Bram
36:30Hall Inn and asked for the owner. Aean
36:33Don came to the phone laughing. Mrs.
36:35Gilliam, don't tell me you're calling
36:37about my hall clock. In 2017, I had
36:41spent four months restoring the 1840s
36:44tall clock in his front hall. Your hall
36:46clock is fine, Aean. I need a favor on
36:48Christmas Eve. I told him I had a gift
36:51in a standing crate for one of the
36:53Thorsby guests. Could my assistant bring
36:56it through his side door at 8:25 and
36:58hold it in the hallway. It's my hallway.
37:01Aean said, "I'm hosting the Thors myself
37:04that night. I wouldn't miss this for
37:06anything."
37:08On Monday, December 22nd, Gage Negard
37:11came out to service my dehumidifiers.
37:14Gage is Annabeth's younger brother.
37:17He is 35, an HVAC technician, and a big
37:21gentleman who says, "Yes, ma'am." to me,
37:24even though I've told him a hundred
37:26times not to. He has looked after my
37:28barn's humidity system for 3 years. In a
37:32conservation workshop, the air matters
37:34more than the tools. Lars's clock was
37:36still under its canvas in bay 3. I had
37:39stopped the pendulum before he arrived,
37:41so it stood there silent. Gage walked
37:44right past it with his tool bag and
37:46never looked twice. "In my barn,
37:48everything tall is under a canvas. While
37:51he worked, he talked." "Mom's been weird
37:54lately," he said from behind the unit.
37:57"You noticed that she was weird with
37:59Brig at Thanksgiving, too." "I noticed
38:02something," I said. "Brig's a hard guy
38:04to live with. When Dad's house sold,
38:06Brig wouldn't let mom bring much of
38:08Dad's stuff over. The clock sat in his
38:11basement a few weeks. Then he said he
38:13wasn't living with a dead man's clock.
38:16Gage shook his head. That was the summer
38:18before the flood. June maybe.
38:23I kept my face very still. And after the
38:26flood, mom called and said the clock was
38:30ruined. I offered to drive over and help
38:32haul stuff out. She said not to bother.
38:35Said the cleanup crew had already taken
38:37it. He wiped his hands on a rag. I
38:40always wished I'd seen it one more time,
38:42even wrecked. Kind of like seeing dad in
38:45the casket. You know, you need to see
38:46it. I know, I said. He packed up his
38:50tools and thanked me for the coffee. And
38:52on his way out, he said, "See you at the
38:54inn Wednesday, Mila." I watched his van
38:57pull away. Gage would be at the inn.
39:00After Gage left, I started the clock
39:02again, and that night, Romy and I got it
39:04ready to travel. First, I let it run one
39:07last time. I had been regulating it for
39:10two weeks, nudging the rating nut under
39:12the pendulum bob a quarter turn at a
39:15time, checking it every morning against
39:17my phone. By that Monday, it was keeping
39:20time within 4 seconds a week, which is
39:22better than most clocks built this
39:24century. At 11:00, it struck.
39:2811 slow notes rolled through the barn,
39:30and Romy and I stood there without
39:32moving until the last one faded into the
39:35rafters. Then I stopped the pendulum
39:38with two fingers. You never move a tall
39:40clock with the pendulum and weights
39:42inside. They swing, they bang, and they
39:45can crack a case that has survived a
39:47hundred years. Romy lifted out the two
39:50iron weights and wrapped each one in a
39:52moving blanket. I unhooked the pendulum
39:55and laid it in a long padded case she
39:57had built out of plywood and old foam.
40:00We packed brass shims, a level, and a
40:02screwdriver in the same case. Then we
40:05eased the clock into the standing crate
40:07Romy had built over the weekend with a
40:10front panel on hinges instead of screws
40:12so it could open like a door. Romy
40:16latched the panel and leaned on it. Can
40:18I ask you something? You usually do? She
40:22asked it anyway. What if Lane tells you
40:24to leave right there in front of
40:26everybody? I thought about that more
40:28than I wanted to admit. Then I'll leave,
40:32I said.
40:34The clock stays. She studied me for a
40:37second and then nodded the way she does
40:38when a joint finally closes tight. On
40:42Tuesday, my son tried one more time.
40:46Lane's text came in at 7:15 Tuesday
40:48morning while I was feeding the stove.
40:51Please, Mom. One night, Sully's
40:53announcing at dinner. Please don't make
40:55this about you. An hour later, Edwina
40:58sent a message to the family group chat,
41:01the one Annabeth had added me to. years
41:03ago and nobody ever used. Reminder for
41:07tomorrow. No homemade gifts. Some of us
41:10are trying to have a nice Christmas. I
41:13read both messages while my coffee went
41:15cold and I thought about the word Edwina
41:18kept coming back to cheap. So, let me
41:21tell you about cheap. I bill $165 an
41:24hour. I have a waiting list of 19
41:27months. In 2025 alone, two museums and
41:31three historic houses sent work to my
41:34barn, and I turned down more than I
41:36took. I have no mortgage, no car
41:39payment, and no debts of any kind, and I
41:41haven't since 2003.
41:44I drive a 2009 station wagon because it
41:47starts. And I wear a canvas apron
41:49because shellac ruins silk. I spent 412
41:53hours on Lars Neward's clock. I paid Wy
41:56Penner $6,800
41:59for it out of my own savings without a
42:01second thought. I never once in my life
42:03needed the Thorsby's money or their
42:05approval or their table. Edwina had
42:08decided I was poor because I didn't
42:10spend money where she could see it. Lane
42:12had half believed her because believing
42:14her was easier than asking me. Cheap is
42:17a word people use when they've never
42:19seen your invoices. I answered neither
42:21message. I put on my boots and went to
42:23the barn to load the van. Christmas Eve
42:26was a Wednesday. It snowed all
42:28afternoon. Fat, slow flakes that stuck
42:30to everything. Romy left at 3:00 in the
42:33workshop van with the crate strapped
42:34upright and padded on all sides.
42:38I left at 3:40 in my wagon, wearing my
42:40dusty rose blazer over the cream
42:42chamisole, my new haircut tucked behind
42:44one ear. The drive took me almost 2
42:46hours in the snow. I parked on the
42:48street as instructed. The Bram Hall Inn
42:51looks the way a Christmas card wants to
42:53look. White clapboard green shutters, a
42:56deep porch wrapped in garland, and tiny
42:58white lights. Inside the front door,
43:01there was a wide hallway with oak
43:02floors, and at the end of it stands the
43:051840s tall clock I restored in 2017, its
43:09brass dial glowing under a picture
43:11light. Edwina and Brig were in that
43:13hallway when I walked in, greeting
43:15guests and taking coats. Edwina wore
43:17silver sequins. Brig wore a red velvet
43:20jacket. Edwina looked at my blazer, then
43:22at my empty hands, and some of the
43:24tightness went out of her shoulders.
43:26Before she could say a word, Aean Don
43:29came out of the parlor with his arms
43:30wide. Mrs. Gilliam, merry Christmas. He
43:34took both my hands. Look at her. Hasn't
43:37lost a minute since 2017.
43:40I winded her every Sunday just like you
43:43showed me. Edwina's smile froze in
43:46place. Aean turned to Brig, beaming. You
43:49know, Mrs. Gilliam is the best
43:51conservator in the Midwest. I've been on
43:53her waiting list since March. Brig's
43:55eyebrows went up for furniture for her,
43:59Aean said. Edwina recovered quickly. She
44:02kissed the air near my cheek and said,
44:04"How nice that you could make it, Mila.
44:07And you didn't bring anything. How
44:08refreshing." She looked once more at my
44:11empty hands. I smiled and handed her my
44:14coat. There were 26 of us at one long
44:17table in the dining room under a brass
44:19chandelier and a ceiling of hand huneed
44:22beams. Edwina had done the seating with
44:24place cards. Mine was at the far end
44:27beside the swinging door to the kitchen
44:29where every server who passed bumped my
44:31chair. From my seat, I could see the
44:33whole room. Brig and Edwina at the head.
44:36Sully and his wife Sheree and their two
44:39teenagers. Brig's daughter, her husband,
44:41and their three kids.
44:44Edwina's bridge friend Gilda and her
44:46husband. Three couples from Briggs Yacht
44:48Club. Gage and his girlfriend halfway
44:51down and Lane and Annth in the middle
44:53with Tegan and Reese Annabth in a green
44:56velvet dress. Laying in a new suit I had
44:59never seen. The prime rib was excellent.
45:02I'll say that for the Bram Hall. At 5 8
45:05Sully stood and tapped his glass. Dad
45:09wanted me to do this part. He said Lane
45:12stand up. Lane stood. He looked about 15
45:15years old, starting February 2nd. Sully
45:19said, "Lalay Gileiam is the new sales
45:21director of Thorsby Auto Group." The
45:24table applauded. Brig thumped the table
45:26with his palm. Lane grinned and shook
45:29Sully's hand, and for a moment he looked
45:31so happy I nearly forgot the whole
45:33month. Then Edwina stood with her
45:36champagne. "To family," she said, and
45:39her eyes found me at the end of the
45:40table. to family that knows how to
45:43behave. Glasses rose. I raised mine,
45:47too. I see no reason to waste good
45:49champagne on pride.
45:52At 8:25, my phone buzzed once in my lap.
45:55I turned it over. Romy, in the hall. I
45:59turned the phone face down again and
46:01folded my napkin. At 8:45, Edwina
46:04clapped her hands and called everyone
46:06into the parlor to the tree. The parlor
46:09at the Bram Hall has a fireplace you
46:11could stand in two velvet sofas and a
46:14pair of tall French doors that open onto
46:17the front hallway. That night, the doors
46:19were closed against the draft, and
46:21through their glass panes, you could see
46:23the hallway lights and the old clock at
46:25the far end. The tree was 12 feet tall
46:28and real. It smelled like balsam and
46:30wood smoke, and it was hung with the
46:32inn's old glass ornaments. The rule for
46:35the gift exchange was simple. The
46:37children had already opened theirs at
46:39dinner. The adults would each give one
46:41gift and open them one at a time so that
46:44everyone could admire everything.
46:47Edwina explained this standing by the
46:49tree champagne in hand. And then she
46:52added, "Smiling straight at me and
46:55remember everyone nothing homemade." The
46:58gifts were lovely. Brig gave Sully a
47:01watchbox in Italian leather. Sheree gave
47:04Edwina a cashmere throw the color of
47:06oatmeal. Gilda received a silver picture
47:09frame. Each one was passed around and
47:12admired. I was sitting at the end of the
47:14sofa nearest the tree. Lane sat beside
47:18me because there was nowhere else to sit
47:20and he kept his knees angled away from
47:22me. When Annabeth's turn came to
47:24receive, I reached into the pocket of my
47:26dusty rose blazer and took out a small
47:29box wrapped in brown craft paper and
47:32tied with cotton twine. I handed it
47:35across to her. Merry Christmas,
47:37sweetheart. Edwina laughed high and
47:39bright. Oh, Mila, is that from the
47:42hardware store? A few people chuckled.
47:46Briggs snorted into his scotch. Annth
47:48smiled at me a little uncertain and
47:50pulled the end of the twine. Inside the
47:53paper was the little box.
47:56Inside the box was a square of navy felt
47:59and on the felt lay the brass crank key
48:01with its cherry handle. Tucked beside it
48:04was my card. Winded at it nine. Annth
48:08lifted the card and read it. Her brow
48:10creased. She picked up the key and
48:12turned it in the fire light and I
48:14watched her thumb find the two letters
48:16on the crank. A n she said softly. Mila,
48:20what is this? Edwina was standing behind
48:23Annabeth's armchair. She leaned over her
48:26daughter's shoulder to look still,
48:27smiling, ready with another joke. Then
48:30she saw the letters, and the smile went
48:32out of her face like a lamp being
48:35switched off. For one second, she was
48:38perfectly white. Then she bent over the
48:41open box in her daughter's lap, and she
48:43spat into it. on the felt, on the card,
48:47on the key. The parlor gasped. Gilda put
48:51her hand over her mouth. One of Sully's
48:53teenagers said, "Oh my god." And nobody
48:56shushed her. Edwina straightened, dabbed
48:59her lips with her cocktail napkin and
49:01looked directly at me.
49:04"Cheep," she said loudly and clearly.
49:07"Just like you." Annth sat frozen,
49:10staring down at the box in her lap. Brig
49:13looked at the ceiling. Somebody's glass
49:15somewhere clinkedked. And my son, my
49:18only child, leaned close to my ear and
49:20whispered, "Mom, not tonight. Don't
49:23embarrass me." I looked at him. He
49:27didn't look back. He was watching sully.
49:30So, I stood up. I stood beside the
49:33Christmas tree in my dusty rose blazer
49:35with my hands smelling faintly of orange
49:38oil. And I turned toward the French
49:40doors. Through the glass at the far side
49:43of the hallway, Romy was standing beside
49:46a tall wooden crate with her hand on its
49:48latch. She had been waiting there 25
49:51minutes. I nodded once. Open it. Aean
49:56Don, who had been leaning in the doorway
49:58of the dining room the whole time with
50:01his arms folded across the hall and
50:03pulled open both French doors. Romy
50:06swung the front panel of the crate open
50:08on its hinges. The first thing that came
50:11into that parlor was the smell.
50:15Orange oil and shell, an old cherry,
50:19warm and sweet, a smell that had no
50:21business in a room full of perfume and
50:23balsom. Then came the clock upright on a
50:26padded hand truck with Romy steering and
50:29Aean steadying the hood with both hands
50:31rolling it slowly over the oak floor
50:34into the light of the fire. 7 ft 4 in of
50:38dark red cherry, the painted moon dial,
50:41the brass finineials catching the fire
50:43light. Nobody said a word, not one. I
50:47took the long padded case from Romy and
50:49went to work. We set the clock down
50:51beside the tree, and I slid two brass
50:53shims under the front feet and checked
50:55it with the level. I hooked the pendulum
50:57onto its suspension spring and hung the
51:00two iron weights. I gave the pendulum a
51:02push and nudged the case a hair to the
51:04left until tick and talk came exactly
51:07even. Then I checked the time on my
51:09phone and moved the hands to 5 minutes
51:11to 9. It took me about 4 minutes. The
51:14only sound in that parlor was the fire
51:16and the ticking.
51:18Annth had stood up. The little box had
51:21slid from her lap to the rug. That's
51:24dad's, she whispered. Mila, that's dad's
51:28clock. She walked to it the way you'd
51:31walk towards someone you thought was
51:32dead. She reached past the swinging
51:35pendulum to the inside of the waist door
51:37and her fingers found the brass plate.
51:40She read it aloud and her voice broke
51:42halfway for Annabth when you have a home
51:45of your own. Dad Christmas 2003.
51:49Behind her, her mother found her voice.
51:52That is not Lars's clock. Edwina's voice
51:55cut across the parlor high and shaking.
51:58She said it again louder. That is not
52:00his clock. She bought some junk at an
52:03antique store and had a plate made. I
52:05told Lane she would do this. I told all
52:08of you.
52:10Nobody answered her. Aean stood very
52:13still by the French doors. Romy had
52:15stepped back into the hallway out of the
52:17light. I bent down and picked the little
52:19craft box up off the rug.
52:22I took my handkerchief out of my blazer
52:24pocket and wiped the brass key clean
52:27slowly the crank and the socket and the
52:30cherry handle the way I'd wipe
52:32fingerprints off a finished piece. I
52:34said nothing at all. She's manipulating
52:37you, Annth. Edwina was nearly shouting
52:40now. She's a lonely, bitter woman, and
52:42she wants you to love her more than me.
52:45Annth didn't seem to hear. She dropped
52:48to her knees in front of the clock in
52:50her green velvet dress and pulled out
52:52her phone. She turned on the flashlight,
52:54leaned into the open waist door, past
52:56the weights, and shown the light down to
52:58the floor of the case deep in the base.
53:01She stayed there a long moment. Then she
53:03made a small sound, half laugh, and half
53:06sobb. Aen, she said, I carved it with
53:10dad's pocketk knife. I was 12. He said
53:14every clock needs a signature. She
53:16looked up at her mother. Nobody can fake
53:18that from a photograph, Mom. Edwina
53:21opened her mouth. Before she could
53:23speak, Gage stood up from the far sofa.
53:27"He's a big man, and when he stands up,
53:30a room notices." "Mom," he said very
53:33quietly. "You told me the cleanup crew
53:35hauled it away. You told me not to
53:37bother coming." Edwina turned on him
53:40wildeyed. It was ruined in the flood.
53:43Every head in the room turned toward me.
53:46I think they expected me to raise my
53:48voice at last. I have never won anything
53:50by raising my voice. I folded my
53:53handkerchief and put it back in my
53:55pocket. Wood remembers water, I said.
53:59This wood doesn't. I kept my voice low.
54:02Cherry that sits in flood water keeps a
54:05pale line where the water stopped. The
54:07grain stands up. The iron weights rust
54:10overnight. This case has no line. These
54:13weights have no rust. This clock was
54:16never in a flood. Edwina, then she stole
54:19it. Edwina swung toward Brig toward
54:22Gilda toward anyone. She stole it from
54:25somewhere and now she's I answered her
54:27the same way. I bought it from Wy Penner
54:30in Hume on April 8th. Penner and
54:33Daughter Antiques. He bought it from you
54:37on July 14th, 2023 for $3,400.
54:42The fire popped. Somebody set a glass
54:45down very carefully. Annth, still on her
54:48knees, turned toward her mother. The
54:50flood was in August, she said. You
54:53called me in August. Edwina
54:56Briggs said his scotch on the mantle.
54:58His face had gone a modeled red. What is
55:02she talking about? That was the moment
55:05Edwina broke. She didn't break toward
55:08her daughter. She broke toward her
55:10husband. Don't you dare, she shouted.
55:13Don't you dare stand there and ask me
55:15that. You said get rid of his things.
55:18You said you weren't living with a dead
55:19man's clock. You wanted it gone before
55:22your precious 70th birthday party. I
55:25needed the deposit. You never once asked
55:27where the money came from.
55:30Brig's mouth opened and closed. At the
55:32end of the sofa, Sully stared at his
55:34father as if he had never seen him
55:36before. Sheree quietly took her
55:38teenagers by the elbows and steered them
55:40toward the dining room door.
55:43Gilda sat down very slowly on the arm of
55:46a chair, and Edwina, chest heaving,
55:49turned back to her daughter. For a
55:51moment, I saw something in Edwina's face
55:54I hadn't seen in 13 years. She looked
55:57old and frightened and very tired. "I
56:00was 65,"
56:02she said to Annth, and her voice
56:04cracked. "I was 65 and alone again, and
56:07I did what he wanted. Do you know what
56:10that's like to be alone at 65?"
56:13I'll be honest with you, for about 3
56:15seconds, I felt sorry for her. Then she
56:18lifted her chin. She said it to her
56:20daughter's face. Your father spent 5
56:23years of evenings in that garage
56:26building that thing for you. 5 years. He
56:29never built anything for me. You were
56:32always his Annth, never mine. The room
56:36flinched. Annth didn't. She stood up
56:39slowly and brushed off the knees of her
56:41green dress. Her voice was steady. You
56:44let me cry for 2 years. You sat at my
56:47table and let me cry.
56:50Edwina had no answer for that. Nobody
56:53would have.
56:55I looked at my phone. It was 8:59. I
56:58walked over to Annabth and held out the
57:00brass key clean and warm from my
57:03handkerchief. Your father's rule, I
57:06said. 9:00. She took it. Her hand was
57:10shaking. She fitted the key onto the
57:12first winding square the way her father
57:14taught her at 17 and turned the crank.
57:16The ratchet clicked. A heavy iron weight
57:19rose inside the case, then the second
57:22square. Click, click, click. She took
57:24the key off and stepped back. The minute
57:27hand touched 12. The clock struck. One
57:30deep round note rolled through the
57:32parlor, and at that same instant, out at
57:34the end of the hallway, Aean's old clock
57:36struck two. Two clocks 160 years apart,
57:40ringing 9:00 together. Tegan started
57:42counting out loud the way her mother
57:44used to. 3 4 5 Reese joined in. 7 8 9
57:51Then the room was so quiet you could
57:52hear the snow. Edwina broke the silence.
57:56Of course she did, Lane. She turned on
57:59my son.
58:01Are you going to stand there and let
58:03your mother ruin Christmas?
58:05Every eye in the room moved to Lane. He
58:08was still sitting on the sofa where I'd
58:10left him, staring at the clock. He
58:13looked at his wife. Then he looked at me
58:15for the first time all night. He took a
58:18long breath. "She didn't, Edwina," he
58:22said. "She didn't ruin anything." Brig
58:25found his voice again, and he used it
58:27the way men like Brig always do to get
58:30the last word on price. "All this," he
58:34said, over a secondhand clock. Aean Don
58:37cleared his throat from the doorway.
58:39"Mr. Thorsby, Mrs. Gilliam bills $165 an
58:43hour. I've seen her quotes. Everyone
58:46looked at me. 412 hours, I said. Lane
58:50did the math out loud. That's almost
58:52$68,000.
58:54He looked at me with something I hadn't
58:56seen on his face since he was a boy.
58:59Mom, you did that for Annabeth. I did it
59:03for Lars, I said. He did the hard part.
59:06Sully stood up.
59:09Lane, maybe we should talk about
59:10February after the holidays. I'll call
59:13you Monday, Sully," Lane said. At 9:20,
59:17I took out the pendulum and the weights
59:19myself. Then Lane took off his new suit
59:21jacket and helped Romy lift the clock
59:23onto the hand truck. Annth held the
59:26doors. Gage held the van's back doors.
59:29Tegan carried the key in its little
59:31craft box like it was made of glass. On
59:34my way out, I passed my place card at
59:36the far end of the table by the kitchen
59:38door. $145
59:40prime rib. I left it where it was. Romy
59:44drove the van straight to Fairbank with
59:46Lane's car following and mine behind
59:48his. The snow had stopped. Nobody called
59:52anybody. At 11:40 that night, Lars
59:55Neward's clock stood in the corner by
59:56the stairs in Annabeth's front hall, the
59:59corner she had kept empty for 2 years. I
1:00:02shimmed it level on her hardwood floor
1:00:05and hung the pendulum one more time. Ree
1:00:08had fallen asleep on the third stair in
1:00:10his Christmas sweater.
1:00:12Tegan sat beside him, refusing to go to
1:00:14bed until midnight. At 12:00, it struck
1:00:1712. The whole house hummed with it.
1:00:20Annth stood with her back against the
1:00:22wall and her hands over her mouth, and
1:00:24Lane stood beside her with his arm
1:00:26around her shoulders, and nobody said
1:00:29anything for a long time. Romy drove the
1:00:32empty van home at 1:00 in the morning. I
1:00:34followed her as far as the county road
1:00:36and drove the last stretch alone heater
1:00:39roaring radio off. Gilda told Annth
1:00:42later that Brig and Edwina left the inn
1:00:44in separate cars. The hall smelled like
1:00:47orange oil for a week. Annth told me she
1:00:50didn't air it out on purpose. On
1:00:52Tuesday, December 30th, an envelope
1:00:55arrived in my mailbox with a Sumar
1:00:57Harbor postmark. Inside was a check from
1:01:00Edwina Thorsby for $3,400.
1:01:03On the memo line in her neat, careful
1:01:06hand, she'd written, "For your trouble,
1:01:09$3,400."
1:01:11The exact price she'd gotten for her
1:01:14husband's clock.
1:01:16I wrote void across it in black ink, put
1:01:19it in a fresh envelope, and mailed it
1:01:20back to her on New Year's Eve. I didn't
1:01:23include a note. Some things explain
1:01:25themselves. Annth didn't speak to her
1:01:27mother for 9 weeks. When she finally did
1:01:30in late February, it was a short phone
1:01:31call and Edwina spent most of it
1:01:33explaining how hard the holidays had
1:01:35been for her. On Monday, December 29th,
1:01:38Lane called Sully and turned down the
1:01:40job, $158,000
1:01:43a year. He told me later that his hand
1:01:45shook while it rang and then the whole
1:01:47call took less than a minute. He found a
1:01:50new position at a seed company in
1:01:51Fairbank and started on March 2nd for
1:01:54less money and a boss who has never once
1:01:56asked him to sit up straight. On January
1:01:595th, Annth mailed back her mother's
1:02:02Christmas gift, a $1400 spa weekend
1:02:05unopened and asked for her house key
1:02:07back. Brig spent January at his condo in
1:02:10Florida alone.
1:02:13One evening in the middle of January,
1:02:15Lane drove out to the barn by himself.
1:02:17He stood in the doorway in his old
1:02:18jacket and watched me glue up a chair.
1:02:21"I'm sorry, Mom," he said. "For
1:02:23Thanksgiving, for the inn, for all of
1:02:25it." "I know you are. You can say
1:02:28anything you want tonight," he said.
1:02:30"Anything. I'll just listen." I set down
1:02:33my glue brush. "Then I'll say this. I
1:02:36don't go where I'm told to be quiet. Not
1:02:38anymore. Not for anybody. Not even for
1:02:40you." He nodded. He didn't argue. That
1:02:44was new. The brass key hangs on a hook
1:02:47by their front door now, right where you
1:02:48can see it when you come in. Every
1:02:50Christmas Eve at 9:00, Annabeth will
1:02:53take it down. And every so often, I
1:02:55think about Edwina in that kitchen
1:02:57setting my walnut bowl beside the trash.
1:02:59Cheap, just like me. I'll take it. What
1:03:02you give is worth exactly what it cost
1:03:05you to give it. And nobody who spits on
1:03:07it gets to set the price. That's my
1:03:09story. One clock, one key, and nine
1:03:13strokes at 9:00.
1:03:16If someone in your family was ever told
1:03:17their grief wasn't worth keeping, share
1:03:20this with them. Drop a comment, hit
1:03:22subscribe, and I'll see you in the next
1:03:24one.

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of My Son’s Mother-in-Law Spat on My Gift and Called Me Cheap — Until She Saw What Was Inside by Alpha Mom Stories, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 10,458 words across 1,464 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.