I bit my lower lip and hurdled myself further into the corner, hoping that the ground would soon split up and swallow me. Better still a winged animal from Harry Porter's times would be merciful enough to fly me away from this menacing man who was towering over me. His bloodshot eyes were as red as a ball of setting sun.
His massive hands clawed over my head like a hawk ready to pounce on a lonely chick. As for the obscenities that were coming off his mouth, none of them could be penned down without being X rated. It was hard to believe that this was my father. Yes, my biological father. The man who was mandated to protect me from the world. The man meant to see the good in me. The man who was now baying for my blood.
"Father please", I pleaded. "Do not father me you useless good for nothing idiot". He was now barking like a rabid dog. "Why did I have to sell so many of my cows to take you to school? Do you have any idea why I don't have a car in this compound? You are that reason. You, Rosie, are the reason I am poor. And this is how you repay me??"
I receded back to the corner, my teeth chattering inside my cheek. But why couldn't he understand? I do not want to study law. I will never study law. Who wants to spend their whole life going in and out of courtrooms yelling half of the day and trailing thugs the rest of it? I, Rosie wanted to be something simpler. Something more fun. A thespian. Yes, thespian.
I wanted to spend my life in the theatre, recreating the lives of Sophocles, Euripides, Shakespeare and so on. I am only alive when transformed into another person, another world. Why couldn't my dad understand? Yes, I got an A in my secondary exams, but even drama is a career. So I receded deeper into that corner, listening to how many cows he had sold, wondering when it would all end. So I could go back to my room and finish reading Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman".
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