“The First Man I Detested”

When I was a child growing up in Trinbago, I used to sit in our yard under a tree. We had a Portugal —(A fruit of the citrus family) tree, two avocado —zaboca trees, a governor plum tree —(a small round purple in color fruit which must be rolled and squeeze in the hand to soften, to get the sweetness and flavor) and a caimite tree —(a milky fruit). One day while I was sitting under the caimite tree, I heard some of my friends playing on the street, but I did not join them, I stayed where I was reading and eating fruits. It was a sunny day and one of the neighbors was over a tub washing clothes. She was pregnant and I watch her walked slowly inside the house. A few minutes later I heard a pot spoon hitting a pot. The food she was cooking smelt good. I continued reading so I did not see when she came back to her washing. Suddenly I heard a male voice. It was her husband. “I am home for lunch and you are not finished cooking!” He shouted.

“I’m sorry. The food is finished, let me dish out some for you,” She said in a soft frightened voice as she turned off the pipe, then, slowly walking towards the step to go into the house.

“So you are going to give me raw food!” He said taking off his belt then he started to beat her with it. I was in shock as I watched this woman with one hand up trying to block the blows and the other blocking her belly. He beat her and she begged him to stop, but he didn’t. I was scared and I started to cry. One of my sisters shouted at me to come into the house, but I was glued to the spot. She eventually came and took me inside. Weeks later our neighbor died in childbirth and her husband got married soon after she passed. He was the first man I detested…