“Honey, I just deposited another penny into the savings account,” said John, as pleased as punch, to his wife Natalie when he came home from work on payday. John, our fridge is almost empty. Natalie shot her husband a glare full of anger.

“Maybe next time you can set aside some money, but for now, give me some so I can at least go to the store?” No way, you can’t withdraw from there or we’ll lose the interest, her husband immediately objected. Lately, John had been saving more and more. From the very beginning of their marriage with Natalie, he believed that one should be thrifty and not spend money on unnecessary things.

 

She rarely received gifts from him, but her parents had instilled in her since childhood that a man should be sensible in financial matters and not waste money frivolously. This seemed right to her, so she decided to marry John, convinced that this was how it should be. But as the years passed, John’s thriftiness reached extremes.

This became especially noticeable when their daughter grew up. Questions about new toys or clothes John always resolved the same way—with refusal. He thought such things weren’t worth the money and shouldn’t be given importance at all.

But Paula was growing, and when it came time for the ninth-grade graduation, John suddenly forbade Natalie and their daughter from buying a proper dress. “Why spend money on some rag she’ll wear only once?” he fumed at dinner. “We can find something simpler. Like second-hand. And anyway, school graduation isn’t an occasion for extravagance.”

At that moment, their daughter was silent, but tears welled up in her eyes. After all, she had to study with these people for another two years. Seeing this, Natalie decided to intervene.

“John, it’s graduation. The girl wants to look beautiful, like all her friends. Can’t we at least not skimp on this?” “I said it’s an unnecessary expense. We’ll find her a dress twice as cheap, and no one will notice the difference. And anyway, we bought her a dress in sixth grade. What’s wrong with that one?”

“Well, we’ll have to alter it somehow. The girl has grown. We’d better save the money for something useful,” insisted the agitated John. Natalie sighed heavily. She was already used to his strict saving.

But now it concerned their daughter, and she couldn’t stay silent anymore. When John left the room, Natalie secretly took money from her own stash, which she had saved for her own needs, and gave it to her daughter. “Go buy yourself a beautiful dress,” she whispered. “Just don’t tell Dad. And I’ll manage without new winter boots this year.”

The girl ran to her friends, and together they chose a dress that she really liked. Graduation day arrived. Instead of the family car, as always, they took the bus.

Another silly saving by John. But when they approached the school, John saw the luxurious expensive dress on his daughter. He immediately flared up.

“What’s that on you?” he asked sharply. “I bought it for her,” Natalie quickly interjected, trying to smooth things over. “She wanted to look beautiful, and I decided to help her.”…

John turned red with anger. “We had an agreement,” he began raising his voice right on the street. “You broke our deal. This is wastefulness. If you have extra money, you could give it to me, and I’d invest it in something necessary.”

“But it’s just once, John.” Natalie tried to calm him, but her voice was already trembling with tension. “It’s graduation. The girl deserves a little joy. No need to turn everything into a scandal.”

“You always indulge her. And if she asks for a plane, will you steal money from me and give it to her?” John wouldn’t let up. “And then what? Buy her a car for her birthday?”

The girl, standing nearby, felt awkward, and the happiness from the new dress evaporated. “Dad, I just wanted to look beautiful, like everyone else,” she said quietly, trying to smooth things over. “Beauty isn’t important, money and common sense aren’t important,” John snapped, not letting her finish. “Big deal, a dress. Life isn’t measured by that.”

Laughter was heard. Paula turned and saw her classmates giggling at her father’s behavior. The girl’s cheeks flushed immediately.

“Paula, you go ahead, we’ll join you later with Dad,” the woman hurried to reassure her daughter. The girl nodded and ran back to school. “John, sorry, but you’ve completely lost your mind,” the woman addressed her husband after the graduation.

“Why did you embarrass your own daughter in front of her classmates?” “I’ll see about their parents, who with such wastefulness will have nothing left in their pockets in old age.” “You don’t even know how much money went into preparing for the graduation, which, just so you know, I paid for out of my own pocket,” whispered Natalie, but her husband didn’t hear her.

He was too busy counting change, which he planned to use to get back on the bus. Paula’s graduation triggered a new wave of foolish saving. At home, John ate only dinner, thinking that this way he could significantly cut food expenses.

At work, he never spent money on snacks or lunches. Instead, he would sit down to drink tea with colleagues. He’d take a cookie left by someone in the kitchen, or drink someone else’s tea.

Once he even managed to swipe candies he found in the corner of a drawer. These candies he proudly brought home and gave to his daughter Paula, considering it an extraordinarily good gift. “Here, Paula, candies!” he said with a satisfied look, handing the bag to his daughter.

Paula opened them but saw that the candies were old, almost stale, but still tried one out of politeness. A few hours later, the girl’s stomach cramped, and Natalie sat with her daughter all night, caring for her. “John, did you even check what you brought?” Natalie asked him in the morning when their daughter barely got ready for school after a sleepless night.

“Candies are candies! How was I supposed to know they were bad? Someone left them at work. Do you think I’ll spend money on sweets?” John brushed it off. Natalie just sighed heavily.

She had long been used to John buying almost nothing for the home. All groceries she bought with her own money, trying to combine these expenses with her hobby—knitting. The woman’s salary was small, but even from that, she always found funds for everything—from modest food to paying utilities.

John gave only a small amount, sometimes just 200 dollars a month, which wasn’t enough even for the food he ate. By the way, they lived in Natalie’s apartment. Her husband was registered at his mom’s, and here, in her inherited apartment, only she and her daughter.

One evening, when John came home from work and sat at the table without even asking where the food came from, he suddenly started a conversation. “Natalie, we need to talk!” the man began seriously. “I’ve been thinking that you don’t contribute to the common budget at all. We live together, and I pay for everything alone. Where’s your money, may I ask?”

Natalie couldn’t believe her ears. She slowly turned to her husband, trying to hold back laughter. “Are you serious right now?” she asked with a smirk. “You want to say I don’t contribute to the pot?”

“Yes,” John answered confidently. “You should contribute more, it’s fair.” Natalie couldn’t hold back and laughed.

“More? You really think I should contribute more? Let’s break it down. I buy all the food for us every month. I cook, I clean. Do you think the money you give is enough for anything? And I also pay for all of Paula’s holidays, all her needs. She’s not a cat, she’s a living person. And you, you brought old candies once a year and think you’ve made a significant contribution?”

John frowned. “But I give money every month.” “Money that isn’t even enough for your own food, John,” Natalie repeated.

“You save on everything, even on our daughter’s health. Medicines are always on my money, gifts too I spend on. And you accuse me of not contributing. This is ridiculous.”

“But I’m trying to save. We need to accumulate money. Who knows what might happen. No one is insured against a rainy day.”

“John,” now Natalie looked at her husband seriously, “if you don’t stop saving on everything, I’ll talk to you differently. I’m tired of carrying everything on my own. Let’s be honest. You’re saving not for the future, but for your own comfort. Your salary at the office is small, but you don’t have to work much. So you don’t want to look for a new place, right?”

“I, I!” From indignation, the man began to choke. “I’ve been a workaholic all my life. All I do is go to this office. They even give me bonuses.”

“Well, sorry, I didn’t know about your bonuses because I haven’t seen a cent from them.” Finally said Natalie, after which she left the room.

After that conversation, John no longer made claims to Natalie about her contribution to the family budget. The woman already thought that her husband had finally come to his senses. Natalie even felt a bit ashamed.

She blamed herself for going too far with words about work. However, this was only the beginning. Instead of listening to his wife, John began to actively implement new ways of saving, which shocked Natalie more and more.

One evening, when Natalie came home from work, John suddenly declared: “Natalie, I’ve been thinking, we need to cut water expenses. You shower too often. Paula does too. We need to use less water and electricity.”

“Are you serious?” Natalie asked in surprise, feeling that this was crossing all boundaries. “Of course, serious,” answered John, who had already calculated everything to the penny…

“Besides, cook less too. And in general, we can cook on the gas stove. I brought our old economical hot plate from the garage. It’s in the hallway. And don’t reheat food a hundred times, especially in the microwave. That’s a big energy waste. And now I’ll take products to work. Store them in the fridge there. And bring them back in the evening. We’ll turn off the fridge during the day to save electricity.”

Natalie sat on a chair and stared at her husband, not believing her ears. “Are you going to carry everything from the fridge to work every day? All the products? What about frozen stuff, it’ll thaw.” “Oh, it won’t thaw in a day,” John brushed it off.

“But it’s a great way to cut electricity costs. Imagine how much we’ll save.” John, without waiting for an answer, headed to the fridge and began packing products into a bag.

Natalie was shocked that her husband had even thought of this. And, of course, his experiment quickly bore fruit. Soon the food began to spoil.

Milk soured, vegetables wilted, and meat started to smell strange. “John, the food has spoiled,” Natalie said irritably when she opened the fridge again and smelled the spoiled products. “So what? We’ll be healthier, clean out the stomach. Nothing, we’ll get used to it,” the man carelessly brushed off.

Natalie shook her head, not knowing what to say to all this. The culmination of the ongoing absurdity came on the woman’s birthday. When it was time for gifts, John solemnly handed Natalie a box, and she sincerely hoped that at least on this day her husband would try.

But no such luck. Opening the box, she saw a set of energy-saving light bulbs. “Happy birthday, Natalie!” John said with a smile. “Here, now saving will be even more convenient.”

Natalie looked at the bulbs and felt like she was in an altered reality. Is all this really happening to her? “John, is this your entire gift?” the woman asked with notes of sarcasm in her voice.

“Of course! And what do you mean ‘entire’? These are energy-saving bulbs, by the way. With them, we’ll cut electricity costs even more.” “But we already have such bulbs!” Natalie blinked in surprise.

“So these are lower wattage than the ones we have now. We have 10 watts now, and these are 5. And you’ll change them yourself. You’re the housekeeper. You’ll have something to keep your hands busy!” he added with a satisfied smile.

Natalie’s patience was at its limit. First the shower, then the fridge at work, and now this. She was already beginning to doubt her husband’s sanity.

In the depths of her soul, the thought arose that something was wrong with him. “John…” she began in a restrained tone, trying not to raise her voice. “It seems to me that you’ve developed some obsession with saving. This is no longer normal. Don’t you see what you’re doing? Products are spoiling, we’ve stopped living normally. I can’t take it anymore.”

“Obsession?” John frowned. “I’m just trying to be economical, and you don’t appreciate my efforts. My mom always praised me when I managed to save an extra penny. For some it may be extra, but for a sensible person, money is never extra.”

“There it is.” Natalie realized that her husband saved so much because for his mother this was the norm. And yet, communicating with her mother-in-law, Natalie never noticed that she cared so much about money.

“This is no longer saving, this is mania,” Natalie sharply interrupted her husband. John had already crossed the boundary of common sense. The woman was not going to tolerate it any further.

She realized that she couldn’t fix her husband, and she wouldn’t bother with it. Natalie decided it was time to teach John a lesson for his excessive saving. She was already tired of the constant restrictions from her husband and control over all household trifles.

So, one morning, gathering with her daughter Paula, she said to her husband: “John, Paula and I are going to the store. Everything in the fridge has finally spoiled. There’s nothing to eat at home. Are you okay with that? Or maybe you want to come with us?”

John just grunted and muttered: “Just don’t buy anything extra.” Natalie didn’t answer, just smiled mysteriously. After all, he doesn’t even know the prices in the store.

When was the last time he bought groceries, the woman thought. “Mom, you didn’t say anything about the store?” Paula said, buckling her seatbelt in the car. “I lied to Dad.” Natalie honestly admitted, and she didn’t feel guilty at all.

At the mall, Natalie gave both herself and Paula full freedom. She bought new dresses for herself and her daughter, expensive shoes, accessories, and a few more gifts for her parents, who lived in a resort town in Florida. Paula glowed with happiness, because she hadn’t been bought so many new things at once in a long time.

After Natalie spent all the money John had given for the month, she felt good. Returning home with a bunch of bags, she met her husband with a light smile on her face. “What’s all this?” the man immediately yelled.

“Why didn’t you take bags from home?” “Wait, is there clothes in there?” “Well, John, remember your gift to me for my birthday? Bulbs, right? You tried, of course, but it doesn’t suit me. So I spent all your money on myself and Paula. And I also bought gifts for my parents.”

John paled. “You spent all the money, how will we live?” “Very simply,” Natalie answered calmly.

“This month you buy your own groceries in full. And Paula and I are leaving tomorrow for my parents. We’ll rest there, unwind. And see my parents at the same time. And you manage here yourself.”

“But how?” John critically puzzled. His face twisted into a corresponding grimace. “I gave you money for the month. You can’t just do that.”

“I can,” Natalie answered calmly. “And don’t worry about your account. We’re going on my money for the vacation. And you continue to cherish the numbers on the card, which are more important to you than the health and happiness of your loved ones.”

John said nothing to that, just helplessly watched all day as Natalie prepared for departure. Two days later, Natalie and Paula left for her parents. There they had a great time, relaxing on the beach, walking along the promenade, eating delicious dishes in restaurants.

The woman’s parents were only happy to see their daughter and granddaughter. Meanwhile, John stayed in the apartment alone. A few days later, when he started having difficulties paying bills, he began calling Natalie.

“Honey, you can’t imagine how expensive everything is!” her husband complained to his wife on the phone. “Groceries cost a fortune, and the utility bill is just awful. I don’t know how to cook, so I eat all kinds of semi-prepared foods, but they’re expensive too. I’ve started asking colleagues for food from their containers at work. But they don’t give!”..

“Well, John,” Natalie replied with a smirk, lying on the beach. “You chose this yourself. And Paula and I are resting. Don’t bother us with such trifles, please.”

After several such calls, Natalie began to get tired of her husband’s constant complaints. Either he didn’t understand where to put the powder in the washing machine, or the kettle wouldn’t turn on, so he had to heat water on the portable gas stove. Natalie decided to turn off her phone to have some peace and quiet.

But John didn’t give up. He started calling the home phone of her parents. “Hello, this is John. I just wanted to know how Natalie is doing.”

But without letting his mother-in-law say a word, the man continued: “And I also wanted to ask how you cope with utility prices? We’re all trying to save here, and I wanted to consult with you.” Natalie’s mother was initially glad to talk to her son-in-law, who seemed to share her views on saving.

But soon John’s constant questions about money began to irritate the woman. “John, son,” she said once in a conversation, “you know, maybe you should just relax a bit? Is it impossible to just live normally and not count every penny? Your income allows it.”

Natalie, learning from her mother about this conversation, laughed. “Well, Mom, did my economical husband get to you?” “He sure did,” her mother nodded.

“I didn’t even expect that people could be so obsessed. Saving is saving, but this is some kind of mania with him. Run from him, daughter, run away as fast as you can. Such behavior won’t lead to anything good.”

“Yes, I’m already thinking about it myself. But I need to try to teach him a proper lesson. Who knows, maybe it’ll help cure my hubby.”

Although deep down Natalie understood that everything was heading towards a breakup, she decided to try all options so as not to regret later. While at the resort, the woman realized that she deserved not only rest but also positive emotions from communicating with friends she hadn’t seen in a long time. Her parents supported this decision, promising to entertain Paula somehow during that time.

Then the woman began going to cafes to meet with girlfriends, and took photos, after all, for memories. One day, sitting in a cafe with her daughter and enjoying the sea view, Natalie accidentally met her classmate Andrew. They hadn’t seen each other in a long time and decided to sit together, reminisce about school years.

“Natalie, what brings you here?” Andrew exclaimed joyfully, approaching their table. “I never thought I’d meet you here at the resort. And who’s this beauty with you? She’s the spitting image of you!”

“Andrew, what a surprise!” Natalie beamed, hugging her friend. “Paula and I came to rest at my parents’. We haven’t seen each other in ages. Sit down, tell me how life is?”

Andrew joined Natalie and Paula, and they chatted nicely. At some point, Natalie decided to take a photo with her classmate and posted the picture on social media. Later in the evening, John, scrolling through his social media feed, came across this photo and immediately dialed Natalie’s number.

“Hello!” the man began rudely, getting straight to the point. “Natalie, what’s this photo? Are you meeting with guys there while I’m sitting alone in the apartment counting money?”

Natalie, already understanding where the conversation was going, calmly replied: “John, this is just my classmate. We met by chance in a cafe, sat, talked, took a photo for memory. Don’t make a problem out of this, please.”

“Don’t make a problem?” John was indignant. “You’re not only squandering the money I earn with difficulty, but also sitting at the same table with some guys. Maybe let them pay for you then, since you’re having such a fun time?”

Natalie sighed heavily, realizing that the conversation was going in circles again. Only this time her husband chose a slightly different justification for the emerging scandal. “John, listen, let’s do without accusations. This is just a friend, and I’m not going to justify myself for communicating with other people without reporting to you. If you don’t like that I’m having a good time, that’s your problem.”

“Problem?” John began to boil. “You’re spending time on guys, and I’m here!” Natalie sharply interrupted him.

“John, enough. You’re trying to manipulate me, as always. First with money, and now you’ve moved on to invented infidelities. But it doesn’t work. I was resting here and will continue to rest, and you’re to blame for putting saving above normal human relationships.”

John tried to insert his word, but Natalie strictly continued: “And let’s agree, if you call me again with such claims, I’ll just turn off the phone and enjoy the rest. This is my last warning.”

John fell silent, not knowing what to answer. He had always been sure that he could control his wife’s behavior. But Natalie had clearly changed, and his old methods no longer worked.

“Okay,” the man finally muttered. “But watch it, you’re still behaving wrong.” “Complain to my mom about it too,” Natalie snapped.

“And my opinion is this. I deserved this rest, period, so see you.” With these words, she hung up and turned off the phone.

Surprisingly, her husband didn’t bother Natalie anymore. A week after this conversation, Natalie and Paula returned from the resort fresh and rested. They looked great.

Tanned, with smiles on their faces. After three hours on the train, Natalie hurried straight to the shower. As soon as she closed the bathroom door behind her, John, out of habit, began to grumble.

“Water flowing uncontrollably again. How much longer? You’ve been in the shower for almost half an hour. Do you even understand how much water you’re wasting?”

Natalie calmly came out of the bathroom, wrapped in a robe, and, looking at her husband, replied restrainedly: “John, remind me, I pay for the water myself, since your money isn’t enough for water, so my minutes in the shower are my concern.”

John, apparently not expecting such an answer, sighed and irritably threw two hundred dollars on the table. “Here, choke on it! Here’s for utilities!” Natalie smirked but said nothing in response.

She wasn’t going to refuse the money, as she was sure she deserved at least a hundred times more. The next day, the woman decided it was time to implement another of her ideas. In the morning, while John was drinking coffee, Natalie approached him with a paper in her hands and said:

“John, I have something new for you. Here, look.” And handed him the price list. John puzzledly took the sheet and began reading aloud: “Cooking—twenty dollars per dish, cleaning the apartment—one hundred. What nonsense is this?” John asked irritably, while Paula quietly giggled on the side…

“This is not nonsense,” Natalie answered calmly. “Since you’re so into saving, I decided that everyone should pay for themselves. I cook, so cooking costs money. You want me to clean? Pay.”

“Have you completely lost your mind?” John blurted out. “These are your direct duties as a wife. What example are you setting for Paula?”

Natalie just smiled. “Oh yes, almost forgot,” she continued from the living room, opening the closet. “The shirts I bought and ironed for you. You won’t wear them anymore. Instead, you have three energy-saving bulbs. And the iron, by the way, I’m taking too. I bought it, so you don’t use it.”

John opened his mouth in surprise. “Is this some kind of joke?” “No, not a joke,” Natalie answered.

“You want everything to be fair? So now I’ll follow your rules and in no way touch your precious budget. See the couch in the living room that we took from your mom? Now you’ll sleep on it.”

John tried to recover from the shock and reached for the kettle to pour himself another cup of coffee. But not finding the appliance in its usual place, the man irritably and puzzledly scanned the kitchen. “And where’s the kettle?”

“There’s no kettle,” Natalie answered in the same cheerful voice. “I bought it after the old one broke. So since you didn’t pay for it, you can’t use it.”

John exploded. “You’re mocking me!” “Not at all,” Natalie said softly.

“I’m just applying your own rules, John. You wanted everything to be fair. Now I’m acting according to your laws. And it’s unpleasant for me to think that you’re saving only on me. So if you want to use the kettle or shirts, buy them yourself.”

John stood silently, unable to respond to his wife’s behavior. Natalie for the first time so decisively and uncompromisingly put him in his place. For the next few days, John tried to live by the new rules that Natalie had set.

Every time he wanted to use the kettle or put on a shirt, he faced harsh reality. Natalie kept her promises. Even a hot dinner stopped being something taken for granted.

For every meal, John had to pay according to the rate his wife set. This irritated him immensely, and at times drove him to rage. One day, John, tired of Natalie’s new rules, decided to resort to cunning.

He remembered that his wife offered him to pay for every household chore and tried to take advantage of it. It seemed to the man that this way he could not only earn but also show that he could do without his wife’s help. So to speak, turn Natalie’s cunning against her.

“Natalie,” he declared one morning, “today I’ll clean the apartment, and you’ll pay me one hundred for it.” Natalie, busy with her affairs, looked at her husband in surprise but said nothing. She knew that John rarely showed initiative in such things, but decided to see where it would lead.

“Go ahead, just take your own bucket, rags, and gloves. And don’t forget about the water. There’s usually a lot of dust accumulating in the corner of the cabinet. Wipe everything well.”

John irritably nodded, then rolled up his sleeves and got to work. When Paula saw her father personally scrubbing the entire floor on his knees, she was very surprised but said nothing.

She had long understood that Mom decided to teach Dad a lesson, and overall agreed with her in this decision. From the beginning, things didn’t go as smoothly for John as he expected. He swept the dust carelessly, missing corners and leaving half the surfaces dirty.

In attempts to wash the floor, he spread more dirt than removed it, and in the bathroom used too much detergent, leaving streaks. He didn’t even bother with cleaning the kitchen, just moved the dirty dishes to the sink. “Well, there,” John said proudly, considering the cleaning done, “the apartment is like new. Where’s my one hundred?”

Natalie walked around the apartment, carefully inspecting her husband’s work. Spots were visible everywhere, dust remained in the corners. The floor shone only from excess puddles, not from cleanliness.

“And you call this cleaning?” she asked, not hiding a smirk. “You didn’t even do half the work.” “And you didn’t wash the floors in my room,” Paula added with a smile.

“But I tried,” John grumbled, feeling growing irritation. “It’s still worth one hundred dollars.” Natalie took out her wallet from her bag, pulled out a ten-dollar bill, and placed it on the table in front of her husband.

“Here, John, for your efforts. Your cleaning isn’t worth more.” John stared at the money in shock. His face even reddened with anger.

“How is that? We agreed on one hundred!” he shouted in rage. Natalie calmly replied: “We agreed that you’d do the entire cleaning qualitatively. By the way, I do such cleaning after every cooking in the kitchen, and also wash the dishes, not just stack the dirty ones in the sink. So it’s worth at most that for such work.”..

“This is some horror!” John fumed, glaring at his wife with an indignant look. “You can’t treat me like this! How am I supposed to exist in such conditions?”

John realized that his attempt at rebellion had failed. He was angry at his wife, at the rules she set, and at himself. But he couldn’t change anything.

After a few days spent in such conditions, John couldn’t take it anymore. He packed his things and moved to a rental apartment, spending money from his precious savings account, which he had been contributing to for years. For him, this was a real blow.

Spending his own savings seemed like true blasphemy. But Natalie was only glad about it. After her husband’s departure, the woman unexpectedly felt relief.

The home became peaceful again. She heard nothing about her husband until her mother-in-law called her. “Natalie, hello!” sounded a slightly irritated voice on the other end of the line.

“Hello, Tamara!” Natalie answered calmly. “How are you? How’s your health?” “Listen, this is just impossible!” the mother-in-law got straight to the point.

“John has already driven me crazy with his antics. He constantly comes to my apartment to eat, wash, and is generally planning to move here. I can’t live like this. You have to do something about it. You’re his wife after all!”

Natalie smirked. “Tamara, this is no longer my concern. John and I have separated, divorce is just around the corner. If he decided that his new life will be tied to your money, then so be it. I no longer have anything to do with it.”

Tamara, in whose voice a mixture of despair and irritation was heard, tried to object: “Natalie, but he’s still your husband!” “Was!” Natalie gently corrected. “Now that’s in the past. I’m no longer going to tolerate John’s antics on myself. I have no more desire to participate in this spectacle.”

Soon after this conversation, Natalie received an official divorce. The woman felt free and happy, and Paula didn’t worry at all about this decision. Some time passed, and one day, returning from work, Natalie noticed a man on the street rummaging in trash bins.

He was all dirty and, hunched over, searching for something in a pile of discarded things. When Natalie came closer, she suddenly realized that it was John. The saving he was so proud of had driven the man to extremes.

He didn’t notice Natalie, and she just passed by without saying a word. In her soul, she felt bitterness, but understood that she couldn’t help him anymore. John had driven himself into this corner, from which he could no longer escape.