Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 2
The Breadwinner: Episode 2
The time is 4pm and John was reading a copy of newspaper when Miriam came back from work. She looked visibly tired and worn out due the stress of controlling children in the school where she works as a teacher. She was coming back home with the hope that her husband had cooked food for her to eat. Indeed, John had cooked the food and even gone to his children's school to pick them up and bring them home. He was happy doing the father duties because it had been long he picked or dropped his children off to school.
"My darling, welcome back from work. How was work today? I hope your students did not stress you too much?" John asked his wife Miriam as she dropped her bag on the center table and crashed in one of the sofas in the living room.
"Please serve me my food. I'm famished because I have not eaten anything since morning." Miriam said. She did not even respond to the greeting of her husband but went straight to demand for food. John was startled and wondered why his wife's behavior changed just a day after she heard that he had lost his job.
"Why are you so antagonistic towards me? Did I ever offend you? I just greeted you and you did not even bother to respond to my greetings. This is not how to treat a husband who has been the breadwinner of the family and has never failed to take good care of bills that needed to be paid. Or is it because I have lost my job? I was once the breadwinner of this house and I deserve every respect from you." John said to his wife who was looking into the vacant space as if she was not hearing his voice at all.
"You were once the breadwinner of the house, but are you still the breadwinner? Answer me now. Are you still the breadwinner of the family?" Miriam asked while standing up as if she wanted to attack her husband with a slap.
"I'm no longer the breadwinner only because I lost my job." John remarked in response to the question posed by his aggressive wife.
"Correct! You are broke and jobless, so you have lost your position as the breadwinner of the family. You have no right to demand for respect in this house. I should be the one asking for respect because it is my money that we are now spending. So, please go in there and serve me my food and stop lecturing me about being the breadwinner in the past because 'I get am before no be property Miriam fumed. She went back to her seat and John left to the kitchen and soon, he returned with a tray of food. He was carrying the tray of food as if he is a waiter in a restaurant going to serve an honourable guest.
"What did you cook?" Miriam asked.
"I cooked okra soup, which I know is your favourite?" John responded with a gentle smile.
"I don't want to eat swallow. I did not tell you I want to eat okra soup today. I told you in the morning to cook jollof rice and you went to cook okra soup. Are you out of your mind?" Miriam asked her husband.
"You did not tell me what to cook. You just dropped the money on the table and asked me to cook. If you had told me you wanted to eat jollof rice, I would have prepared it for you. Why are you talking as if I purposely did not want to cook jollof rice for you? Please, eat the okra soup, you will enjoy it." John pleaded with his wife, but all his pleas fell on deaf ears.
"You must be out of your mind to ask me to eat what I don't want to eat. I said don't want to eat okra soup this evening. It's already 5pm and you want me to eat heavy meal? Do you want me to get fat? Go in there and prepare jollof rice for me." Miriam orders her husband.
"No way! You did not tell me to cook jollof rice, so I cooked what I thought you would like. You want all my efforts to go to waste? Besides, there is no ingredients to use and cook jollof rice this evening. Please, kindly manage the one I have cooked. I will cook you jollof rice tomorrow." John was still pleading with his wife to see if she would agree to eat the food. It was just as if he was the houseboy because of the way his wife was talking to him carelessly.
"If I did not tell you to cook jollof rice, why didn't you have the sense to call me and ask? You should have called me to ask me what to cook for me." Miriam said.
"I did not have credit in my phone." John said.
"You are so broke you cannot even afford to load your phone with credit. I wonder how I came to be the wife of a poor man. Please, bring the food, but from today upwards, I get to decide what everyone eats in this house. Before you cook anything, make sure it is approved by me. Have I made myself clear?" Miriam asked.
"Yes my darling." John said as he handed the tray of food to his wife. When he opened the soup, she saw that there was only one piece of meat in the soup. She became angry again.
"Why did you put only one piece of meat for me? Don't I deserve to eat two or three pieces of meat? Besides, I was the one who brought the money you used to cook the food. Why did you drop just one piece of meat in the plate?" Miriam asked.
"The meat I bought is not that plenty. If I give you three, which one will the children eat? Manage that one so that it will reach everybody. "John said. As he was talking, his wife lifted the cup of water on the table and poured it on his face.
"What? Why did you do that? Why did you pour me water?" John asked.
"Because you are challenging my orders in this house. Go to the kitchen and add two more meat to my plate of food." Miriam said angrily. John obeyed her without saying anything else.
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