Morris was wailing like a madman. He paced up and down his parents’ living room. His mother and sister rushed in after his first scream.
“What’s the problem? You’re going to awaken your children,” said his sister. Morris’s three children were asleep in the adjacent rooms. The eldest was ten, the middle was seven, and the youngest had just turned six.
“She has left us,” Morris said.
“Who has left you?” Asked his mother.
“Grace has gone to Australia and left us,” said Morris as he showed them the message Grace had sent him.
“What do you mean? I saw her yesterday when she came to see the kids,” said his sister.
Morris sat down with his hands on his head.
“Such a wicked woman. What kind of mother leaves her three children and moves to another country?” Morris asked.
“Are you sure she’s not lying?” Morris’s mother asked.
They decided to go to Grace’s parents’ house to get to the bottom of the matter. Morris could hardly wait for morning. He was in denial. Things between him and Grace had been rocky for years. Like many couples, they had their fair share of ups and downs.
“Marriages are like that,” Grace was often told when she complained about Morris.
Morris was the primary breadwinner. Grace did a few odd jobs here and there. It wasn’t much, but she used it to take care of her family. Morris paid school fees on time and their rent. However, he mistreated Grace. She had lost count of the times that he humiliated her in front of her children and his family.
He needed the kids to know that he was ‘more important’ than Grace, so he’d pull silly stunts. There were times he’d come home drunk and, at midnight, look at what Grace had prepared, which would be something like ugali and sukumawiki, and he’d ask why she wasn’t feeding his children meat. He’d wake the kids up and give them the nyamachoma he had carried. This was when he didn’t force Grace to cook the meat at whatever time he arrived.
Morris also had a wandering eye, and when Grace complained about it, Morris flaunted his affairs. Grace tried talking to his mother and sister about it, but they were of no help. Morris got angry.
“Who are you to involve my family in normal family affairs? That’s how men were created, and you can do nothing about it? After all, where would you go? Which man would want a woman with three kids? If you continue to embarrass me, I will leave you. I can easily start another family with another woman who knows her place,” said Morris.
That conversation haunted Grace for years. Every time Morris made her life unbearable, she thought of the idea of raising three children on her own and felt tethered to Morris. Her helplessness only emboldened Morris further, and his verbal and financial abuse intensified. Grace often ran away to her parents’ home when they had major fights.
Morris would go for her and promise Grace’s parents that he would reform. Sometimes, Grace would go back after talking on the phone with him. This last time, Grace left, but she didn’t take the children with her. She waited for morning, on a Saturday, when Morris was home, and she packed a bag.
Morris looked at her angrily.
“How long will you play this foolish game? I’m tired. You’ll find me with another wife one of these days,” said Morris.
Grace didn’t come back the following day as Morris had expected because the children needed someone to prepare them for school. He woke up on Monday, furious at Grace, but made tea for them. The clothes were clean, and the kids needed little help with preparation. It was mainly supervision to make sure they had everything in order.
Grace wasn’t back by Monday evening. Morris was angry, but his pride wouldn’t let him call her. He bought them dinner for the third night in a row. By Friday, Morris was losing his mind. His kids had food poisoning from the food he purchased on Thursday evening, the dirty clothes had started piling up, and the house was a mess. Grace was still absent.
He asked his sister if she could take care of the kids, but she told him to take them to their parents’ home, where she lived with her two kids and mother. At this point, Morris texted Grace to inform her that the kids were sick and that it was her fault.
Grace went by Morris’ parents’ home to check on them on Friday afternoon. She got past the sneers and looks from Morris’ sister and mother. The kids were doing better and only had running stomachs, for which she got an oral solution, fruits and healthy snacks. She got some for Morris’ sister’s kids, too. She then bade her kids goodbye in an emotional way.
That was the day before she texted Morris. The sister and mother were quick to inform him of the visit. They took the emotional farewell as a sign that she would give in and return to her home with Morris, so the message about her moving made no sense to them.
Morris got the message on Saturday. He tried calling Grace’s number, but it wasn’t going through, and she didn’t respond to any of his messages. When they got to Grace’s parents’ home on Sunday, they found her parents, elder brother and younger sister. They had anticipated this reaction.
“You are a mother like me, and I don’t think you would leave your children,” said Morris’ mother.
“I am a mother, and Grace didn’t leave her children alone. She left them with their father,” said Grace’s mother.
“I can’t believe you’re in support of what Grace has done. What is she going to do in Australia? What skills does she have?” Morris asked.
“I’m not surprised by your sentiment. Grace has been taking classes for the last three years. She begged you to treat her better for years. She listened as you mocked her for years and knew one day you’d leave her to suffer,” said Grace’s sister.
“I wasn’t serious about leaving her,” cried Morris.
Grace’s family explained that she would pay the kids’ school fees and send supplies through the family, as Morris was the one providing physical care. She planned to get them once she was settled abroad.
Morris left a distraught person. He couldn’t decide what was worse, being left with his children or the idea that Grace would take them away later on. Meanwhile, he had to figure out how to raise them. Leaving him at his mother’s house was difficult because they would have to change schools, and having his sister move in with him was hard because there would be three extra mouths to feed.
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