"I DON'T LIKE TO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS"Updated at Mar 27, 2023, 22:45
Episode 1
Dear reader I am a new writer, from Tanzania , today I bring you this short story, which makes me not like to celebrate Christmas day due to things that happened to me before. Let's read this story together.My name was given to me by my parents; it is Jane. When I was eleven years old, all my parents were still alive. I remember when there were 3 days left until Christmas, so I told my mother to buy me clothes for the big day so that I would look like my fellow children. I think my dear readers understand this, because every child has to ask for clothes when Christmas is approaching. When I was young, my mother received my request and told me that she would buy me clothes for the holiday. On my part, I was very happy to get such a response, but on my mother's side, she did not feel the same way because she didn't have money to buy clothes. My mother was very fond of me singing religious songs, dancing, and singing in church, and many people loved me in our church. So, when it was midnight on the day I told my mother to buy me clothes for the holidays, when my father returned from his daily activities while resting on the couch, my mother said to him, "Dad Jane, there are three days left; our Jane wants to wear new clothes on Christmas day."When my mother said that to my father, I went through the living room and went to the bedroom because I was afraid of my father because he was very strict. I heard what my mother said to my father, but my father coughed and replied to my mother, "What's the use of a new dress?" Her floral dress is still beautiful; she should wear it. Jesus won't notice her if she doesn't wear new clothes. "I have no money." "Mother Jane, I have already told you not to ask for money for silly issues like that; one day I'll leave the house and let you live with your child; that whole thing you're raising like eggs—you lie every day, you don't work, and every time you do a little work, you say the seam hurts; what is a seam? "You are a woman who likes to ask for money rather than work." That day I heard my father's words, and I was entering the kitchen; in fact, I was hurt even though I was a child. My father's words made me cry. My poor mother was being answered by my father; she never said anything. My father was a colonist. Guys, if you answer and your answer offends him, then the beating takes its place. While I was standing at the door of the kitchen, I heard the door of my parents' room open, which means that my father has gone inside to sleep.My trip to the kitchen ended there. I returned to my mother, and I found her sad. My mother was a very religious person, and when she saw me, she didn't show any sign that she was angry. She called me "Jane." Let's bring the book of songs; let's sing. I went to take the book of Christian songs and started to sing with Mom. Mom opened several pages and told me to start singing. Mom started singing songs with a lot of emotion, and I followed her as she sang, but while I was looking into her eyes, my mom was not comfortable. That time, my father did not understand anything about the church, prayer, or our Christian religion. We were singing; the door opened; my father came out holding a belt and told my mother. "Is this my house a church or something?" If you want to sing your songs, go to church; I don't want to hear noise, and you, Jane, get up and sleep; tomorrow you're going to school. As my father told me, I got up quickly and went to the room to sleep; I left my mother there because I would have fainted and I would have been beaten by tape. When I was in the room, I still heard my father's words saying, "I will only drink a lot of alcohol; you keep saying that the stitch hurts; at night, I will untie that stitch that you say hurts every day." My father said that, and he went inside to sleep.
My dear readers, I don't know whether to blame my father or blame myself. I didn't even know until now that my mother gave birth by surgery; that's how I was born.
Now, for a while, my mother has always said that the stitch hurts; for a while, she doesn't even work, and when she tells my father to go to the hospital and check why the stitch is hurting, the father always answers him, "The whole world sees you as the only one who has given birth by surgery." If you find something to slander, leave me and I will work and find money, but if you don't plan for me to spend the money, you continue to raise that seam.
Those are the words that my father always used to say to my mother. Since I was very young, I was very tired and fell asleep.
In the middle of the night, I felt thirsty, so I got up to go to the living room and drink water. When I arrived in the living room, I looked at the couch and saw my mother lying on it with a bible on her chest.
I never knew that my mother slept in the living room all the time, although it is legal to share the same room with my dad.
During those years, our house had only two rooms: my father's room and mine...