I BORROWED MONEY TO PAY BACK BORROWED MONEY

Dear Delyara, It began with £300 for a boiler repair. Now I owe more than £18,000 across loans, cards, and three companies that send messages before breakfast. Last Friday, I took a new loan to make the minimum payments on the old ones. For six hours, every account looked current. I walked around the house feeling almost peaceful. Then I realized I had paid debt with debt and called the temporary silence progress. My wife thinks we owe about four thousand. I edit the bank statements before showing her. I delete emails. I leave work early to intercept the mail. Our son asked whether we can go to the beach this summer. I said, “We’ll see.” What I meant was that I do not know whether we will still have this house by summer. Every morning, I wake before my family and lie still beside my sleeping wife, wondering how long a person can hide a financial fire before everyone smells smoke.