WHEN MY MOMMY IS UPSET

It was like any other Saturday at home. I had slept in because there was no school the next day and when I finally woke up I was more excited about playing the whole day. I had already made a mental list on how I would spend my sweet weekend before school resumes on Monday.

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I changed out of my pyjamas that morning and went out to play with my friends who were already waiting for me. On my arrival, they cheered excitedly.

I had gone out to play without brushing my teeth nor doing any of my house chores. I was nonchalant about my chores because I had many sisters who were very hardworking and their motherly instincts wouldn't let them leave the house dirty. But that day, mommy dearest was in a bad mood. She had woken up on the wrong side of the bed and I was busy testing her patience.

My mother had sent my younger cousin who was spending the holiday with us, to call me from my center of play to come and start my chores but my ears were on vacation. I pretended not hear him and instead convinced him to play with me.

"Caithlyn!!" My mother called in her usual loud voice but I still pretended not to hear.

I played and played to my heart's content. Just as the play was getting hotter and the excitement I felt was becoming something else.

WHAM!! Came the sound of koboko (cane) hitting flesh. My mother had stealthily snuck behind me like a ninja and flogged me on my back.
I jumped in both surprise and pain like a worm that has salt all over it's body. The scream that left my lips when the second strike came again did not sound like mine even to me. The pain was unexplainable.

My mother chased me from my play centre all the way home with her koboko in her hands. I tried to run faster than her but she was like a cheetah. Every single lash of the cane kept touching my body.

When we got home she did not stop hitting me with the koboko.The anger she had felt that morning was all being poured on me. I was her scapegoat that day. My siblings watched with mixed reactions, some felt pity, while some were laughing at how I was jumping around.

It was when my father finally intervened that my mother stopped flogging me. From that day , I did not leave my house to the play centre without brushing my teeth and doing my chores. But it only lasted for a few months, after that I went back to my normal routine of play centre in the morning, chores later.