Chapter 5

“But she got it all wrong along the line. She had opted for constant and close watch on him in order to always remind him against the alcohol, but it slowly turned into nagging, and I must say, there’s nothing that keeps a man away from his house like nagging.

Slowly, my father started keeping late nights, like major late nights. I’m talking 10 pm, sometimes 12 am, when he would come back, if he came back, reeking with the stench of alcohol, telling my mother, in his drunken state, how he had been with several other beauties. Describing how he had been with them in certain fast-food restaurants, what he bought for them, and what he brought home for her.

Sometimes, my mother couldn’t bear this and spoke up, condemning the acts of my father, and this earned her a good beating. A vivid story my sister once told me was of a day my father had started beating my mother, and my mom ran into the kitchen and grabbed a knife, threatening to stab herself if she was touched again.