The Reckoning

Children will only put up with so much...

 

My mother was carried to heaven

On the day that I turned six,

She died of tuberculosis

Spitting blood in a coughing fit,

She'd been so ill for a long long time

That I couldn't recall her smile,

My father, he just grumbled, said:

'Your Ma will be gone for a while.'

 

'She's gone to sing in a choir up there,

Who knows how long she will be?'

But I saw the coffin that carried her out,

The hearse and the burial tree,

I watched as it sank down into the ground

And my father just left it there,

Went off to visit my 'aunt', he said,

A woman with long, blond hair.

 

I stayed at home, such a lonely child,

And went to a place in my head,

Where mother was fit and without a care

She laughed at the things I said,

My father left me alone a lot

So mother would tell me, 'Shush!'

We'd laugh and giggle when he went out

But talk in a sort of hush.

 

I played outside at other times

Where the grass grew long and wild,

I'd catch the skinks as they darted past,

I was always a curious child,

I'd bring the Sleepy Lizards home,

My father didn't mind,

He said I could keep the pets I caught,

I thought he was being kind.

 

But then one day he came on home

With this 'aunt', who moved right in,

He said they were married now, so I

Should call her 'Mum', not Jen.

I scowled, and went to my room to cry,

My mother was looking sad,

She said, 'just do what your father says,

I'm your Mother, but he's your Dad.'

 

This Jenny, she was all right at first

She tried to make me smile,

But I was feeling rebellious then,

And turned my back for a while,

I kept my rabbits and guinea pigs

And fed them out in their hutch,

But Jenny came out to look at them,

And she didn't like them much.

 

I knew, she wrinkled her powdered nose

And said, 'Oh pew! They stink!

We'll have to find you a hobby, one

That's pure and clean, I think.'

I heard her talking to father, say

That she thought I was rather slow,

She wanted the garden tidied up

So my animals had to go.

 

It was just about that time, I think

That my mother said goodbye,

She couldn't stay in that house, she said,

It was time for her to fly,

She left me alone in a great big world

So I brought a Lizard inside,

And put it under my bedclothes

Thought it a perfect place to hide.

 

When Jenny made the bed, she screamed

And shook me like a rag,

She went and got a kitchen knife

And a plastic shopping bag,

She made me put the Lizard in

Then she took the bag outside,

And stabbed and stabbed 'til the Lizard bled,

'Til my Lizard friend had died.

 

'Now bury it!' she said to me,

'And don't you ever dare

Bring filthy animals into this house,

For if you do, I swear...'

At this she put the knife to my throat

And stood and watched me scream,

I saw the hate in her powdered face

It was like an awful dream!

 

Whenever my father left the house

She'd always scream and shout,

Knock me around for the slightest thing

Then drag me, throw me out,

Lock the door so I couldn't get in

And give me nothing to eat,

She said if I told my Dad on her

It would only get me beat.

 

She killed my rabbits, cooked them up

And served them from a pot,

She gave me a crooked, evil grin:

'You'd better eat the lot!'

I found myself in a black, black rage

Inside, at the things she'd done,

And hoped that my father would go on out

And buy himself a gun.

 

He never knew what she did to me,

I never would dare to say,

I knew that she'd get me on my own

And then there'd be hell to pay,

So I stayed outside in the barren fields

And found me a hessian sack,

Then went for a hunt with a long, forked stick,

It was time to get her back!

 

I waited until he'd gone away,

Was gone two days or more,

Then bit my tongue as she raved at me,

Spat hate from the kitchen door,

The morning came, and there wasn't a sound

To come from that angry head,

And I will never regret the day

I put a snake in her bed.

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Valentine]

Awesome tale..and if true my mate..I am so sorry..Did the snake just scare her or bite her and that made her permanently silent??? Child abuse or any kind of abuse is wrong and it is so prominent in this world today..As things are getting worse in the job markets..abuse is on the rise here in the US..Perhaps in Australia too..I love to reaad your writing..it is so dramatic and usually comes with a totallu different ending thatn expected..God bless and glad to have you back..Valentine

[Debra Stevens Edwards (..]

David, this was another amazing piece of writing as always. Welcome back I have missed the mystery and intrigue
Of Your Pieces. Take care and God Bless.
Debby

[Jinx's Heart]

The ending made me smile, but entire poem just made me feel for the narrator. I have no tolerance for child abuse and neglect. It pains me to read about it knowing it exists way too often and never goes noticed. A very clever writing! It flows well and the tone remains consistent. Very well done! :)