6
By the time I finish drafting the agreement, it’s nearly evening.
Kevin still hasn’t brought Tommy home.
I habitually start to worry about Tommy’s homework, then raise my hand and slap myself hard.
“Mom, you have to be cruel, just like his dad.”
I get a call from Kevin. The female voice from that night is on the other end.
“Sister–in–law, it’s me. Kevin’s too drunk to get home on his own. Could you come pick him up?”
“Why don’t you take him? Aren’t you two close?”
I glance at the divorce ag
agreement on the table and change my mind.
“Never mind, I’ll come get him.”
I hang up and rush to the private room as fast as I can.
The room is filled with men and women of all sorts. Besides the girl who called me, whom I’ve seen before, the rest are unfamiliar faces.
But they all look at me with accusing eyes, as if I’ve failed as a housewife.
Kevin sits in the main seat, face flushed red, still raising an empty glass to drink. Tommy sits beside him.
His backpack is thrown on the floor. A scantily–clad woman holds him in her arms, talking to him.
12:35 PM
<
ل
So this is how he takes care of our son. No wonder my years of hard work raising Tommy at home can’t compare to his occasional outings.
Before I even enter, Tommy screams.
“Dad, I don’t want to go home with Mom! Mom’s going to make me do homework again.”
Tommy scrambles around trying to escape as if he’s seen a ghost. Kevin finally pretends to open his eyes.
“Son, don’t be afraid. Daddy’s here.”
Then others in the room try to reason with me:
“Sister–in–law, don’t be mad at Kevin anymore. He’s been hiding out at my place for almost two months because of you.”
“Same here, Kevin crashed at my place for nearly a month. My wife was getting upset.”
The girl standing guard by Kevin speaks up too: “Sister–in–law, Kevin often mentions you and Tommy when we chat. He really cares about you both.”
I finally realize this call wasn’t about picking up Kevin at all.
They want me to cry and beg on my knees for Kevin to come home.
I laugh coldly:
“You keep talking about how hard it is for him. Can’t he come home on his own? Doesn’t he have legs?
“I’m not suffering while taking care of our son at home, but he slams the door and leaves at the slightest disagreement and suddenly he’s the one suffering.
“If being out having fun is suffering, why don’t we switch places? Kevin, stop pretending to be drunk.
“Do you want me to discuss what you’ve done in private or right here in front of everyone?”
The girl snuggling up to him suddenly changes expression.
“Sister–in–law, it’s all just a misunderstanding.”
Misunderstanding?
He nearly had drunk sex with someone else and I caught him. When I asked a few questions he couldn’t answer, so he gave me the cold
shoulder.
Kevin is silent again, his face dark.
He glances at Tommy, who dejectedly walks towards me.
As he comes over, he keeps looking back longingly at Kevin, hoping his dad will call him back.
That way he can keep playing and never have to study again.
This is also an indirect way of asking me to leave.
Let me take the kid and go, so he can stay here and keep partying.
Why does it always have to be this way? I’ve had enough too.
I stand my ground and take out the divorce agreement.