There was another side of my sister that I came to know. She was very violent and her disciplinary measures were intense. She would beat me up senseless if I erred. Grace eventually joined me and we were together through it all. I can’t remember my first whooping but I remember the serious ones. By now my mum had retired and had settled in up country where she built her house. We would visit her every time schools closed which would be a big relief and time to rest.
Apart from this super spiritual side of Susan, she had a bad temper meaning if you annoyed her, she would grab the nearest thing that can hurt you and hit you with it. She later advanced and settled for a water pipe cut out into a cane for serious beatings. That thing was painful!
On one occasion, I was fast asleep and it was around 6am thereabout. Susan was preparing to go to work. She was a nurse and so she worked in shifts. As she was taking breakfast, she noticed the tea tasted different and seemed oily. After confronting the house help who had made it, I was woken up from bed with a pull and drag on the floor. I was beaten thoroughly like a thief attacked by a mob. My head was held and pushed with all the energy she had which made me land on the cabinet and I hit my whole body, causing me to fall flat on the floor. I started weeping, having in mind that I was still drowsy from sleep and I had no idea why I was being beaten. After I fell, she started shouting the accusations that I had put Kerosene in the tea!! I was in so much shock and disbelief that the tears suddenly disappeared. Apparently the house help had accused me that I had poured Kerosene in the milk while I was putting it in the stove the previous evening. It was a big lie.
My sister did not want to hear whether it was true or not. She was so mad that I decided I would not even dare defend myself lest I am beaten again. I was later allowed to go back to bed. My body was aching and I could not believe what had just happened.
I used to go to school with swollen limbs and everyone would stare and ask questions which made me start hating school. One time I got a serious whooping because I was caught beating my nephew. He was a very cheeky boy like any other and since I was the ‘big sister’, I took it upon myself to discipline him when his mother was not around. When she knew I had beaten him, I was beaten until my hair was cut as a sign of punishment. I had just come back from the salon of which she had given me the money to make my hair, and I had found my nephew disobeying and misbehaving. To make matters worse, my other nephew was around. He had been sent by my other sister (Mary) to come see Susan. So he was just in shock as he watched the whole ordeal. I could tell he was traumatized from my beatings but my sister did not care…..
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