They all say around the table with the silence among them almost deafening. Family time was a new concept their father brought up, it was foreign to them.
“Let's say the prayer,” their father said and everyone looked at each other’s faces before joining their hands together and waiting for him to start.
He waited for a few seconds before he finally started.
“Dear, Lord. We bless your name for this meal. We appreciate you for the provision and we say you remember the homeless and give food to the hungry. We say you unite this family and strengthen us to be together more. Thank you, dear Lord.”
“Amen,” they all said in unison.
Soon, the only that could be heard was the clinking sound of cutleries on plates and the smacking sounds of their lips.
The family was slowly falling apart when their father brought home a second wife with a child. Sarah, Martins and Joe were going to do anything to stay with their mother but she insisted on staying back in the marriage.
Slowly, the children were drifting away from home. A home that was always filled with laughter and joy slowly seeped into being a home with no happy faces or excited voices.
Their father was trying to bring that back. He was trying to unite them with the new woman and he thought he could do that during mealtime and with prayer.
“Thanks for the meal,” Joe said as he pushed his chair back and was ready to get up.
“We have a movie night tonight.”
“Excuse me?!” Sarah’s words came out as an exclamation than she wanted it to.
Joe turned back and stared at their father. They all exchanged their gaze from their mum back to their dad while the second wife and her two-year-old daughter sat in silence.
“I said, there would be movie night tonight and we are all going to sit back and watch together as a family!” their father ascertained with more authority.
Martins scoffed. He was the second child and the most notorious. This whole time, he had been keeping quiet, I mean they had all been keeping quiet even though they were majorly against their father’s action. But this time, Martins seems to have had enough.
“What did you just do now, young man? Am I a joke to you?” he said to Martins and he scoffed again.
“Please, Martins,” their mother pleaded.
“Mum. I did nothing. Hell, I said nothing!!” he stressed on his words as he glared at his dad. His bottled-up emotions were slowly walking their way into his voice.
“Good. Regardless, we are seeing the movie together!”
“I do not intend to see a movie tonight. I’ve got a bunch of work to do,” Martins replied.
“You would schedule that work aside and sit for the family time,” the authority remained persistent on the father’s tone and Martins was not liking it.
Sarah was the first child but the most scaredy-brat. She was trying to hold Martins back under the table but he was not having it.
“Old man, you would have to make me!” His stare was daring. Martins would feel his blood boil in his veins.
“What did you just say?”
“I said, you would fucking have to make me!”
This father got up as quickly as he could from his chair and so did Martins.
“Oh, Please Martins. This isn’t right,” his mum tried to caution.
Martins was now standing face to face with his father. Glaring and daring him with his eyes. There was not a single fear in his eyes as he stood his ground before him.
“No, mum. This man right here is not right! He’s the most
wrong thing that can happen to this family!” Martins blurted out.
The second wife pulled out the chair and carried her child to leave the table.
“After ruining this family, you’re running away?” Joe said to her.
“Do not speak to my wife like that!” their father pointed his finger at Joe and they all could see the hurt in their mother’s eyes.
“Catherine, you can go,” their father said to her and she hurried away.
“You would not speak to me like that. I demand some respect from you as your father!”
“You ceased to be my father the day you stepped your feet into this house with a strange woman!” Martins yelled and before their father could stop himself, his hand landed heavily on his cheeks.
Everyone gasped with eyes wide open with shock. Their mum got up angrily from her seat. This was the most angry she had ever been.
“Don’t you ever!” she yelled at the top of her voice, causing them all to be shocked. “Don’t you ever in your damn life raise your hands on my kids ever again!” she paused as the anger was so evident on her face. She looked over at the children and then back at her husband’s shocked face. “You won’t even have that chance to do that ever again!”
She blurted out angrily and then they heard what they had been dying to hear.
“Kids, go pack your bags. We are leaving this home for this deadbeat!”
“To where, mum?” Sarah asked.
“To your grandparents. They would be so happy to have us.” she replied.