He barked up the wrong tree

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I heard the voices, it felt like I had been dreaming but gradually, I woke up to their shouts. It was my Mom and Dad. They were having a huge argument and from the sound of their voices, it seemed like my Mom was the aggravated one. Something broke in their room and the sound jolted my little sister from her sleep, a few seconds later, my little brother knocked on the door and let himself in.

"How can you treat your sister's children better than yours?" I heard my Mom scream.

I hated these fights and arguments. My Mom and Dad were lovey-dovey but most times, my Dad tended to upset my Mom and this would result in a lot of fights and arguments.
It felt like my Dad was more concerned with his sister's children's well-being than his children. He'll spend heavily on them, catering to their needs while he leaves our Mom to cater to ours.

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Stories had it that my Dad had refused to marry on time because he had wanted to take care of his siblings. He spent his money, sponsoring the education of his younger siblings and he made great opportunities open for them till they grew and got their own families before he finally decided to get a family of his own and then married my Mom.

Based on calculations, I should've been his last offspring but he still couldn't let his obsession for his sister's well-being slide. He channeled his wealth towards the sister's children's education and when they were all in high school, they finally had me as their first child. Some years after that, my Mom had my other siblings too. We were too young to be their kids, it felt like we were kids to our grandparents and to top the situation, my Father went on with his sponsoring my cousin's education and left my Mom to cater to our needs.

"Mom, my school dress is torn and I need a new one." Grace complained to my Mom as she got herself ready for school.

"Grace, you'll have to meet your father for that. I still have to get your books ready before the week runs out." My Mom responded.

I sat on the couch and watched them. Grace frowned at my mom's response but frowning wasn't going to get her a new school dress. The door to the sitting room opened and my dad walked in holding a briefcase.

"Dad, I need a new school dress." Grace said to him.

"You'll get a new one, of course." My Dad replied and stared at my mom.

"Mom said she wouldn't be able to get it for me since she has a lot on her hands." Grace grumbled on

"I'm heading out, so whenever your mom is ready, she'll get you a new dress. Don't bother about it." My Dad said and walked towards the door.

"It'll be best she quits school now because I'm not getting that dress for her. I'm not a single parent." My Mom sternly said and this stopped my dad in his tracks.

"Why are you making things difficult? You need to understand that I have a lot of things that I need to attend to and these things are draining my finances." My Dad responded to my Mom.

My mom gave a cynical laugh and whenever she did that, it simply meant that whoever she was talking to had pushed her buttons.
"Apart from taking care of your sister's children, what other responsibility have you taken upon yourself?" My Mom asked him.

"I can't seem to fathom the reason for your hatred towards my sibling when all they did was accept you into their family." My Dad said and this enraged my Mother.

I was done watching them, so I stood up from the couch and signaled my siblings to follow me out. I helped them get dressed and I sent them off to school.
You might be wondering why I wasn't dressed for school as well. It had already been a year since I graduated from high school but my dad had insisted that I wait till his fifth nephew graduated from the university before I could get into one. So here I was, stuck at home with their unending drama and the whole thing made me distaste my cousins. I saw them as the bridge between us and my dad's love.

So back to the night when their quarrel had disturbed my sleep. My mom kept on screaming her anger out and the urge to eavesdrop on them was too much for me to resist, so I went to their door and listened to them.

From the shouts, I was able to make out the reason for my mom's anger. My dad had just received his monthly salary and he had given more than half of it to his sister and the one he brought home wasn't going to be enough to sort out the needs at home.

"How can you accuse me of treating my sister's kids better? I take care of our children too. I'm the one who pays their tuition fees as well as the feeding of the family." My Dad said. He was also upset by the sound of his voice.

"So you pay their fees and after that, you take your hands off them. Is that your definition of taking care of family? What do you know about your kids? What size of shoes do they wear? You barely know their age and you speak of being a good father. You worship your sister like she made you into what you have become today." My Mom responded still shouting.

"Lately, all we do is fight and argue, I am not comfortable with it." My Dad said after a sigh.

"Whenever you decide to become a good husband and father, I assure you, I'll be the best woman you have ever known but until then, this is what you'll get." My Mom responded.

"You fail to understand that I'm doing this for our kids too. When my strength fails me and I'm no longer able to take very good care of them, those children will cater to our kids." My Dad tried to reason with my Mom but she scoffed and sniffled.

The arguments probably caused her to cry. I could hear the breaking of her voice and I could sense her hurt, her disappointment and her anger.
"Why don't you chanel that strength to our children? Your sister is not a widow for chrissake and you've already succeeded in making two of her sons graduate and they both have a good paying job. Do you have to cater for the whole seven before you'll focus on your kids? How can you ask Jenny to wait till Gideon graduates before she can get into the university?" My Mom was sobbing now.

"That's only two years from now." My Dad said.

"So two years isn't a long time for you? She should be close to her finals by then, but you want her to stay here while you cater for your sister's children. You shouldn't have gotten a family of your own in the first place." My Mom coldly responded to him.

"Honey, I wish you would understand the plans that I've made for our children." My Dad said.

"There's nothing to understand. You're gambling with our children's education because of your siblings. I hope you don't regret it." My Mom replied.

I heard their bed creak and I guessed that she must've gone back to bed, leaving my dad to worry about their argument. I felt bad for her as I could see through her pains and how hard it was for her to attend to all our needs. It was indeed heartbreaking for her to watch my dad lavish his wealth on his sister's children while we managed to get by every day with the little she could afford.

Moving on, I finally got into the university a year after that. My Mom had made sure that I did not wait for the two years my dad had earlier planned on. Soon he was retired and luckily for him, he was placed on the pension payroll and that had been our saving grace. The children he had spent so much on, cut all ties with us and he still had to be the one to sponsor our education, with the little help from my mom's business.

My dad would stay up at night, reminiscing on the days he had fought with my Mom because of his carefree attitude towards us. He had barked up the wrong tree and now, he was taking the brunt for it.

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