Who is wrong?

Scene: A dimly lit bedroom, with a queen size bed and two baby cots. The air is tense, Henry is fuming, Louise is fast asleep and baby George is crying)

Narrator

He tapped her violently,
Waking her up, abruptly from deep sleep.

Henry (tapping violently)

The baby has been crying for over 30 minutes.
What kind of a useless mother are you?
Why are you so wicked and heartless?
How can you lie there sleeping?
When your child, has been wailing for over half an hour.

Louise

I was in shock,
Shock from the way he woke me up,
Shock that I could sleep so deeply, and neglect my son.
As I tried to collect myself, I was yanked off the bed by Henry.

Henry (shouting!!!!)

Why are you still sitting there?
Can’t you see my son is starving?
Get up and do something?
Go and take care of him.

Louise

Now in shock and destabilized from the pull,
My first reflex was; I grabbed baby’s bottle of water,
And tried to give him, in order to calm him down,
And stop the crying as I pull myself together.
All these; while he rained insults on me.
Henry (mocking)

You foolish woman,
Why are you giving water to a hungry child?
Feed the boy his formula, not water.
Useless woman.

Louise

I mixed the formula for my 3-month old,
He hated breastfeeding; it was too stressful for him,
As I was feeding him, my husband kept raining insults on me,
I finished feeding the baby, but the abuses kept coming.
I was distraught, angry and disappointed.

Louise(thinking)

Why would a man who calls himself a father,
Allow his son to cry for 30 minutes,
Before waking me up, just to prove a point?
Why would he not carry his child and try to pacify him?
Why would a husband treat his wife this way?

I had worked all day, cleaned the entire house,
Hand-washed the clothes, cooking four different dishes,
And stock the freezer for the coming week.
I was utterly exhausted after such a hectic day.

Narrator

Henry was aware of all this,
He was home all day and saw it all happen,
He didn’t assist his wife in anyway,
Except request for food when it was time,
And complain about the children crying.
Barking orders, here and there.
Louise could not comprehend why he,
Henry would not understand how she felt,
Especially since this had never happened before.

As she thought about this, anger brewed within her.
She was so angry that tears started to roll down her eyes.
He didn’t notice because he was busy,
Spitting terrible words at her.

Louise (angry, hands shaking)

My blood boiled, and out of rage,
I stoned him with the perfectly wrapped diaper,
I had just changed the baby out of.
A decision I didn’t even have the time to regret,
As he made me regret it, instantly.
A sprained finger and bruises on my face and body,
Was testament to how the night unfolded.

Narrator

Before Louise could even register the shock of her own actions,
Henry was on her in an instant, like it’s what he was waiting for.
His hand shot out, and with a deafening slap,
He struck her across the face.
The force of the blow sent her head snapping to the side,
Her chest stinging, her vision blurred for a second.
She barely had time to catch a breath, before he raised his hand again,
And slapped her harder this time,
The sound ringing through the room like a crack of thunder.

Henry (growling, voice deep with rage)
Who do you think you are?
I’ll teach you your place.

Narrator

The pain in Louise’s face was now mirrored in her chest,
Her heart raced, fury bubbling up from the smallest cells in her body.
The tears she had tried to hold back through the insults,
Through the degradation, finally rolled down uncontrollably.
She wasn’t going to let him get away with this.

In a split second, Louise’s arm shot out, and her hand,
Collided with Henry’s face in a sharp, stinging slap.
Her palm burned but the pain and shock on Henry’s face,
Gave her the satisfaction of standing her ground, though painful.
The room became a blur of movements as they clashed.

Narrator (continued)

Let’s not forget the broken door from her anger,
After she was locked outside, by this same man.
She had become a shadow of herself,
As a result of this kind of treatment over time.
She had become angry, bitter and coupled with,
Post partum depression and the stress of raising a newborn,
And a toddler in a 3-bedroom apartment with no help,
And a husband like Henry, she had finally lost her mind.

The marriage had become toxic.
She never knew what it felt like to be loved,
An cherished by her husband,
Not during the first pregnancy/birth or the second.
She was always alone, her parents in a far away land,
Unable to lend her a helping hand.

She envied her fellow women,
Who were pampered by their men,
She would never know what it felt like.
Despite almost losing her life on both accounts of child bearing,
He couldn’t show her basic kindness.