Mother-In-Law From Hell

We have all heard of horror stories about mothers-in-law. Susan’s mother-in-law Wamuthoni as she’s known in the village is so cruel it’s difficult for Susan to even describe her to friends because they don’t believe her. She’s the kind of woman who still hides food under the bed when she hears there are some visitors coming. Her husband passed away years back probably out of all the stress. She’s a village drunkard and every one knows that she offers herself even to young men when she’s drunk. It’s also common knowledge that her last born son who is Susan’s husband was fathered by a neighbor. Susan too got to hear of that but she decided to ignore it since it was not really her problem.

When Susan and her husband went to meet Wamuthoni the first time, the older lady scanned her with such an evil look that she felt like a piece of dirt. And yet at that time she was expecting her first child. She shuddered at the thought of having a baby girl who according to tradition she would have to name after this evil woman. But as fate would have it, she later gave birth to a baby girl therefore gave her the exact name she was dreading.

She usually avoided going to the rural home but at some point when her daughter was around 3 years old, she felt duty bound to take her daughter to spend some time with her grandmother and namesake. They had been there for a week when one day she left her little daughter asleep in the house and rushed to a nearby posho mill. She knew her mother-in-law was not necessarily warm but she thought her little girl would be safe with her. She could not imagine that she could direct her cruelty towards a child.

She found a long queue at the posho mill and stayed more then expected. Meanwhile back home her daughter woke up and wandered around the compound. In typical kid style, she found some soil and set to eating it only for her grandma to find her. First of all she beat up the girl. Then as if that was not enough, she took a bowl, filled it with soil, added some fresh chopped hot chilies from the garden and ordered the child to eat it! She even stood by with a stick so the little girl could not dare to pour the deadly mixture.

Filled with dread, the little girl scooped her first spoon and ate it. Immediately she started wailing so hard which made the burning even worse. In her innocence, she even made the mistake of rubbing her eyes with her hands. This made things even worse as the pepper stung her eyes, nose and mouth. By the time her mother got back home, first of all she could hear the wails from very far away. She rushed home only to find to her shock her only child holding a bowl of soil and pepper, crying so hard her face looked like a red ball. Her grandma was standing over her forcing her to eat it. She could not believe it!

The sight made Susan’s heart bleed. It was late evening and transport in the rural areas was not so reliable but she did not care. There was no way she was going to spend the night in that house. She picked her daughter and without even packing or preparing anything, she went to the road and hiked a lift from a lorry that was going to the nearest town. From there she boarded a matatu to the city where her husband was. She and her daughter never ever went to see that woman again. Her husband always goes alone if he wanted to see his mother.