My mother died when I was in Form Two and my father was devastated by her death. In my family we are three children, two girls and I am the only boy.

When my mother died my sisters were already married. I was the only one left at home.

For six years my dad would not hear of having a new wife and so we all believed that my mother was his ‘one and only true love’ and that he would never marry again.

Kick her out

I’m now 23. The other day I returned home from campus for the holidays and I found that my 55-year-old father cohabiting with a very beautiful 21-year-old. Upon investigation, I found out that she did not come from a rich family and suspected she was only with my father for his money.

We hoped that he was gong through mid-life crisis and that when he woke from it, he would kick her out.

I was on a three-month holiday and so I had to find a way to live with my father’s new girlfriend. Watching her manipulate my father was like watching a master magician at work. She would not clean, cook or do any housework and to make her life easier, my father hired a house help.

Because she still wanted to go out and dance the night away, my dad would give her money to spend and would also lend her his car. She would always return the following day, yet my smitten dad would not ask where she had been the whole night.

I lived through this nonsense for almost a month before my father decided to marry her through customary marriage, despite my protests.

A week after their union, one of our neighbours told me that my stepmother had propositioned him for sex the day before. Upon further investigation, I found out that my stepmother was quite the ‘loose woman’ and had been around town.

I tried to warn my father but he threatened to kick me out if I said one more disrespectful thing about his new wife. I was so mad that I stormed out of the house and into the nearest bar and drunk myself silly.

I do not know how I got back to my bedroom that night but somehow I did. The next day I woke up to find that I had brought a lady friend home. Since my father would not stand for such behaviour I tried to wake her up and get her out of the house before my father and his wife were out and about. But when my lady friend woke up and turned to face me, I realised the gravity of what I had done. There sprawled under my bed cover was my stepmother, smiling ear from ear as if she had just won the lottery.