The Wife ESCAPED!

**Nine Months Later**

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you are pregnant.”

“Why?”, Caro shrieked in surprise.

“You’re getting fat in all the right places, your skin is much brighter… and you’re getting taller too.”

“Oh come on, Trisha. Just say you’re jealous.”

“True that. If I could have a backside like yours…”

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“What?”

“There are children in this house!”

“Don’t children have backsides? Or should I could it rump, bum, buttocks…”

Caro covered her ears with her palms and screwed her eyes shut.

“You’re acting like you’re one of the children.”

“I’m a Christian.”

“Really? Last time I checked, there was a lot of fucking in the Bible.”

“Oh God, Trisha,” Caro moaned in frustration. “Why can’t you say something righteous?!”

“I’d be righteous if Absalom didn’t bang his father’s concubines in public for all Israel to see.”

“Good night,” Caro said and promptly got to her feet.

“The night is good,” Trisha slurred as she emptied the remaining contents of her glass just as Caro walked away.

Getting to her room, Caro turned on the lights and stripped before the standing mirror. Yes, Trisha was very right. She was fat. Her belly was no longer flat and hard-muscled, it was now soft and even a little jiggly. Her waist was soft and rumpy too. She didn’t bother turning to survey her backside; she just held it with her hands and measured it.

Judging from the distance between her waist and the end of her buttocks, Trisha was very right. Her backside had jutted out a lot and she wasn’t very happy with it. She had always mocked people with big backsides, but she never thought that she herself would be a victim one day. All in all, she knew was growing and eating a lot of good food too.

She had not started menstruating just yet, but she wasn’t really worried. If it would come, it would. If it wouldn’t come, she wouldn’t die. Ever since she heard about it from some visiting health officers and later, from older members of her class, she’d always considered herself ready, though if she had any say in the matter, she would prefer not to have any pains or cramps. Well, when she gets to that bridge, she would find a way to cross it, she sighed as she dove and landed on the bed. Tomorrow, Trisha would be better, when the drink would have cleared off her head.

***

Caro woke up the next day, fresh and happy as she had been waking up for the past nine months or so. Only during this time had she known that life was good. But there was no way she could know that this would be her last day under Trisha’s roof. She sauntered into her bathroom, and after all the morning necessaries, she exited it, threw on clean clothes and made her way down the stairs. Her destination… Trisha’s room.

It was Sunday and since she wasn’t a church-goer, she always woke late. Only Rennie, who was a devout Christian, woke up to finish her chores in time for the morning service. Caro, on the other hand, was not a fan of institutionalized religion. Her teacher, Miss Andrews, who had taught her to speak good English and also introduced her to Christianity, was not a fan of local churches and Caro, being a loyal protege, did everything she did.

As she approached Trisha’s room, she wondered if she could be roused by this time of the day. Only God knew how much alcohol she had consumed the previous night before going to bed. Even though her fake age was only a few months to 18, Caro had always refused to share in the consumption of anything other than soft drinks. She had vivid memories of the things her father had done under the evil influence of alcohol and she had no wish to tow the same line. Never in her life would she taste alcohol.

“Come in,” Trisha called in response to her knock. Caro opened the door slightly and peered in at her. She was lying full length on the bed in the previous night’s clothes and with a pillow over her head.

“How are you feeling?”, Caro asked.

“Never better,” she replied, throwing off the pillow to expose a messy hair and tired face.

“Are you sure?”

“Never surer.” Then she promptly fell to snoring loudly. That was Caro’s cue to leave.

She shut the door quietly and turned around to see the boys rushing straight for the same door.

“Hey, hey. Hold on, guys. I think your Mom wants to be alone for n…”

“Ian stole my cup and tr…”

“He stole mine first,” Ian countered.

“Liar! Thief! Robber! Ro…”

“Hey hey hey. Do you know you are shouting in front of your mother’s room?”

The boys’ eyes widened in fear and they quickly followed Caro as she began to make her way over to the kitchen.

“So who stole whose cup?”, she asked as she took her seat on a kitchen stool to act as presiding judge.

“He’s the thief,” Moses replied.

“He stole mine first,” Ian countered. “No, you broke mine.”

“You liar! I didn’t!”

“Okay! It’s okay. Now, where’s the cup in question? You, go and get it.”

Moses rushed off and soon returned with a fancy plastic cup that was only used when brushing their teeth. Caro received the cup and held on to it. “Now it’s mine. If you guys quarrel over any other thing, I’ll take that too. Now, have you guys eaten?”

They both shook their heads.

“Then go and look for your food and mine too, wherever Rennie kept them.”

They both went in separate directions and began a calm search.

“I’m in a hurry,” Caro called out. “I cannot be late for work. So the first person to find the food will give the other person two hard knocks on his head.”

Immediately, it turned into a highly frenzied search!