MY DAD'S WAY OF APOLOGY

This is really a great topic to talk about. An average African parent can never apologize. Instead, they find a way to make you forget what happened.

I remember once when my parents traveled to attend a funeral of their relative in our village,before they left, they told me to keep the house in order and control my younger sibling and cousins who came to live with us. As the first child I was always the one in charge of the house when my parents were not around. With my parents leaving, I was left alone with my cousins who came to leave with us and my sibling to take care of. It was a little hard for me as they were so stubborn and troublesome, but as the senior in the house, I had my own way of controlling them.

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My parents were also calling from the village to find out how we were doing. The next day, after doing all the house chores at home, I left for Bible class in the evening. Immediately I left my younger brother and my cousin, they got into a fight and broke my father's mug, knowing they were in hot soup as they would be punished, they hid the pieces of the glass and cleaned the mess, and went to church for the children's rehearsal. After church, I asked them if they were coming home with me. They refused and insisted they were staying for rehearsals. It was a trick from them. They knew my parents would get back that evening and I would be the only one at home they would meet, so I would be the one to be blamed for breaking the mug,because I was the one at home. My parents came back that evening and I welcomed them, not knowing that something was wrong when I left and we slept that night.

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In the morning, I heard my father screaming my name. I rushed to the sitting room and found pieces of a broken mug. My dad asked me furiously “who broke this mug.” I didn't know what to say, before I could utter a word. He asked again in a very loud and rough voice“am I not talking to you? I told him I didn't know anything about the broken mug. Were you not at home when we left? I said yes I was”i was so confused, but inside me, I suspected my siblings all my efforts to explain to my father that I was innocent and knew nothing about it was abortive. My brother and cousins were so quiet and pretended like nothing happened. I was punished bitterly by my father for breaking his glass mug.
I knew that it was the work of my siblings, but my father would not believe me.

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The truth was revealed the next day by our neighbor who overheard the fight and came to stop them. She reported it to my parents. My mom punished my siblings, but I wasn't satisfied since my dad, having heard the truth, felt so unbothered he pretended he never did and kept silent, feeling so unconcerned. I understand that he thought it was me, but hearing the truth, I expected a reaction from him, but it didn't come. It increased the amount of bitterness in me because I was expecting an apology.I felt like crying out. I kept quiet and refused to open up or be warm to my father for a few days. Instead of apologizing, he was being nice, giving me his own portion of food with large meat to eat, and trying to cheer me up.

After two days of trying to cheer me up but couldn't, he came back home with a new phone I had been asking for a long time, and gave it to me and called me and my siblings together and told them to apologize to me.
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