Mom Thinks 10K Is Too Little

Regina has worked for five years, and this is the first time her mother has called her home for the holidays. She arrives with luggage and an envelope holding ten thousand dollars, but her mother's smile fades at the amount, comparing her unfavorably to her sister Sabrina, who gave their parents a hundred thousand dollars in her first year of work. The gifts Regina chose are tossed into the storage room, and her mother's words grow crueler, calling her a disappointment beside her sister.

When Regina finally says she scored over 1,350 on the SAT, her mother accuses her of lying. Years ago, Regina overheard her parents, Michael among them, saying they could only afford to send one child to university, so she hid her own high score and let Sabrina go. Now she searches her phone for the old test slip that could prove the truth, but cannot find it, while her mother's contempt leaves her in tears, insisting she is not lying.