By: Wild Rose
It was a nice sunny afternoon when Alma went to see her boyfriend. She was so excited and could not wait to see him as it had almost been a week since they saw each other. She was walking humming to their favorite song as she walked towards his place and then she saw her dad. Her dad was doing a little shopping at the shopping center and as a typical child, she made sure her dad did not see her. She went about her business and went to see her boyfriend.
Later that evening, Alma went back home. When she got there, it was almost dinner time. She asked her mother what was for dinner and she said, “ugali and omena”. Alma did not mind it at all until she asked if her dad was home and her mother told her he was not back from work yet. She was surprised since she had seen him earlier but she didn’t bother telling her mom about it. When her dad walked in, he had only a bottle of water with him and Alma noticed he did not have the shopping he was doing earlier.
Two days later, Alma went to meet her boyfriend again. This time she had told him she would pass by the shopping center first so she could buy stuff for dinner. She was buying tomatoes from a grocery when she heard a familiar voice outside. It was her dad. It was around 3pm and she wondered to herself how often he comes back home by that time. Her dad was buying fish from a guy that was frying them outside and typical Alma, she waited until her dad had gone for her to walk out of the grocery. Something in her told her to watch what direction her dad would take so as to avoid meeting, so she observed her dad and he certainly didn’t look like he was headed home.
In fact, he was heading in the direction that she was about to go, to the side that her boyfriend lived. That didn’t really disturb Alma, she thought he was probably going to meet with his friends then go home later. When Alma got back home in the evening, she went straight to the kitchen to prepare dinner. She had a little chat with her mother after then her dad walked in at around 9pm. Alma noticed that her dad only had a newspaper with him while earlier when he was buying fish he had a shopping bag. Okay now she got really confused but didn’t say anything.
They say the third time is a charm, but it was not in this case. Alma saw her dad again a few days after the fish buying incident. Again, he had a shopping bag and was going I that same direction again. This time, Alma decided she would follow him to see where he was going. She was keeping a safe distance so she could avoid her dad seeing her. Her dad took a few turns and got to a little house where he knocked and a lady opened, hugged him, and he handed her the shopping bag. Alma then just told herself that this was where the shopping has been going all along. She was gutted. First, because she knew she had to tell her mother and that it would kill her and second, her father knew the situation at home yet he spent money buying food and other things for this lady, but expected her mother to have food ready for him and the children when he got home.
Alma called her boyfriend and told him she had to go back home, that something had just come up and she would explain everything to him later. When Alma got home she saw her mother cutting bitter herbs that she intended to cook for dinner that night and she started sobbing. Her mother was worried and she consoled her daughter asking her what was wrong. Alma then calm herself down and proceeded to tell her mother everything she had seen that day, and the events that led to that point. Her mother did not say anything, she continued cutting her vegetables, made dinner and went to bed. Alma had told her mother exactly where the lady her dad went to see lived. Her mother had a couple of friends that lived in the area and she called them to ask if they knew who the lady was, and in fact, one of her friends had seen him enter that house but she did not want to be messy just in case she was wrong.
A couple of days later, one of Alma’s mother’s friends called to say that her dad had just entered that lady’s house. Alma’s mother decided to ask her husband’s brother’s wife to take her ‘somewhere’ and she said since she was on her way to the shopping center, she would take her. On their way there, Alma’s mother was now telling the lady taking her what exactly the problem was and the lady was so heart broken for her. When they got to the house, they knocked and the lady opened the door. Alma’s mother did not wait to be told to get in, she just did, pushing the owner of the house out of her way and as she expected, her husband was seated there, bare chested and in just a pair of shorts. Saying he was shocked to see her is an understatement. He got up so fast yelling at her asking her what she was doing there. They had an intense argument, the lady of the house had decided to leave the house since she knew they had been caught. Alma’s dad then grabbed his clothes in the middle of the argument, got dressed and told his wife they are going home.
It was a shame! A disgrace! A betrayal! A man works hard to provide good things to another lady, while his wife is struggling to put food on the table. Alma’s dad knew for sure his brother that he looked up to would know about this since his wife was there when he got caught and it was not sitting right with him. When they were almost home, Alma’s dad started beating his wife mercilessly. He was asking her why she went to the other lady’s house and why she brought his brother’s wife. He was so arrogant despite just being caught pants down, literally. Alma’s mother was getting a beating because she found out her husband was cheating, tell me about narcissism! And his own daughter was the one who found out, such a weird experience for Alma too.
Neighbors had heard the commotion outside and they decided to intervene. Alma’s dad stopped beating his wife, recollected himself then he went inside the house, changed those clothes and went away. He did not return home that night. Alma came back home after the fight had died, her mother was crying and she tried to console her but she was very hurt by the actions of her husband. Alma then asked her mom what she should cook for dinner and in between sobs she said, “ugali and omena”.
