Pride goes before a fall

My wife and I have been married for twelve years and we have four kids. I worked as an accountant in a school while she was a petty trader. She was a hardworking woman and her business grew within a very short time. She had several outlets in strategic areas of our small town.

I lost my job after some discrepancies were discovered in the school’s account. Overtime, I was able to cover my tracks until the new school principal decided to invite auditors to check the books. My wife knew about my illegal dealings and she was not happy about it, she had warned me several times to desist from taking what was not mine but stealing had eaten too deep into me like cancer.

She was very upset when I lost my job and she didn’t hide it. She diverted all her attention to our children and to her business and this made me very angry.

Getting another job was very difficult because I couldn’t get good referrals from my previous employer and this added to my frustration. I was used to having a lot of money, my savings was depleting so fast and my wife wasn’t even trying to help me out. Once in a while she gave me peanuts as handouts but I knew she could do more. She was just being unnecessarily mean to me.

She always had gift for the kids then sometimes she would manage to squeeze in a little something for me. I didn’t want her gifts, I wanted money instead. I don’t know why she was finding it so hard to forgive me. After all I’m not the first man to steal from his employers. What happened to me was a mistake on my path, I should have been more careful. If not for that poke nosing principal, I’d still have my job.

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My wife hardly smiled at me but she was the happiest whenever she was with the kids. Her face lit up and she had a sparkle in her eyes when she talked with them. I was jealous of her relationship with the children and I knew I had to do something to stop it.

It’s not as if we didn’t talk, the problem with my wife is that she only spoke to me when it was absolutely necessary. We couldn’t sit down and have conversations like a couple because she keeps on insisting that I owe her an apology for messing things up at work.

Me? Apologise? For what? If she thinks I’m going to apologize to her then she has another think coming.

After thinking long and hard, I decided that the only way to get her attention is to take away the things she loves the most. Call me insensitive. Call me irrational. Call me wicked, I don’t care. I have made up my mind and something drastic has to be done.

I was in the picture before the children came so they have no right to take my place. This situation can easily be taken care of with a few drops of rat poison. Herein lies the solution to my troubles. With the children out of the way, my wife will have no choice but to lean on me for love, support, affection and attention.

On my way home from my job hunting expedition one day, I got a bowl of my children’s favorite ice cream. I mixed it up with drops of the rat poison that I bought a few days earlier and I made sure I was discreet about what I was doing.

All was set until I realized that I had absent mindedly scooped a few spoons of ice cream into my mouth.

My oldest child rushed into the kitchen when she heard me cussing loudly. I couldn’t tell her why, I just tried to keep a straight face. She threw a look at the bowl in my hand and said, “Daddy, ice cream? Really? Why did you get such a big bowl? Didn’t you know we’re lactose intolerant like mommy?”

My jaw hit the floor. I was shocked. I could not believe my ears. I have been too busy chasing inconsequentials that I didn’t notice when my children stopped taking ice cream. I’m sure there was a lot more I didn’t know about them.

I managed to drive myself to the hospital just as the pain began to kick it. I told the doctor how I mistakenly ingested rat poison and I saw the confusion on his face. He’s still trying to understand the story I told him but that’s his business.

My stomach is on fire and the pain is so unbearable. I’m afraid. I don’t want to die. Someone please say a prayer for me.