For four months Denis left money each Friday in the blue dish for the woman who cleaned their apartment. He had never met her because she came while they were both working. Tamara said her name was Senada and she preferred cash. The apartment was tidy, the sheets changed, the bathroom clean. Denis thought they had finally resolved an argument that returned every other Sunday.
One Friday he came home early for a forgotten folder. Tamara knelt beside the shower with gloves reaching to her elbows. She said Senada had been unable to come. He offered to take her the money later because she was ill, then asked where she lived. Tamara rinsed the sponge for a long time before turning off the water. Then she admitted that Senada did not exist. She took an afternoon off, cleaned the apartment, and kept the agreed amount.
Denis immediately said she had stolen from him. Tamara removed her gloves and listed everything she had done that day. The work was real, as was the time she had spent on it. Why was it acceptable to pay an unknown woman, but insulting for her to receive that money? The question was not unfair, but it did not erase the lie. She had invented a worker, her schedule, and three different reasons why they could not meet her.
They sat at the still-wet kitchen table. Tamara admitted that inventing Senada had felt easier than asking once again to divide the chores. Denis admitted he had instantly agreed to paid help while always considering her requests that he clean exaggerated. Nevertheless, he wanted to know who entered their apartment and how their shared money was spent. He did not want either of them justifying invention whenever they believed they had a good reason.
They did not immediately agree about the money. Tamara had already spent some of it repairing her bicycle and would not call it theft, but she accepted that she would stop misrepresenting their agreements. The following week they jointly interviewed an actual woman offering help. She asked exactly what they expected. Denis realized for the first time how many tasks fitted inside his brief phrase 'just a little tidying.'
They agreed on two visits a month and wrote down who would do which jobs in between. Tamara did not suddenly stop being angry, and Denis did not forget four months of an imaginary person. One Friday he opened the blue dish and found gloves. It was his turn to clean the bathroom. He did not ask where the cleaner was kept. He found it in the cupboard, where it had been all along.