My Fiercely Protective Mother

My mother was fiercely protective of us, especially after father passed away.

My siblings and I loved to play in our neighbour's house because our neighbour, being better off, had added features to their house - a staircase leading to an 'upstairs' with rooms.

That simple act of climbing the stairs was itself a thrill.

And so it was that one day, we were playing in our neighbour's home. This was after father had passed away. Another neighbour, an elderly one, came out of her house to us and in a nasty voice, ordered us to go home. She said we were different from other children because we had no father and we ought not to be playing with the other children.

We said not a word and went home. 

That day, when mother came home from work, as is our usual routine, we told her what we did and what happened that day. I had never seen my mother so angry before. Not angry with us, but angry with the elderly neigbhour. My mother was never a quarrelsome person. But that day, she demanded to know in what way we were different from other children.


That's me playing with a neighbour's son.