Supper is around the corner. My mother is busy cooking green wali na malagi also known as rice with beans. My sisters have already come from school. They are helping my mother in her smoky spicy world. Happiness is busy cutting the tomatoes and onions while Agnes is busy washing the dishes from the lunch tower. My father is not yet home. He works all day and acts as if food is not essential in his well-being. My mother usually rebukes him to avoid working all the time because all work without leisure made Jack a dull boy. But my dad disregards her all the time.

Everyone is busy throughout the day. My younger siblings are always at school and my parents are at work. My father does a building job while my mother spends more time in the neighbors’ fields. This makes it impossible to have a lunch as a family. I am the one who interacts with the house. I know where to find a missing knife, hide the pot of meat away from my young brother Promise and the place of keep keys safely on a hidden place. In fact, I know all the hidden locations of the house.

“Isn’t that your father knocking?” my mother shouts from the kitchen. “I think so” Agness added. “I am going to check.” I say moving towards the door. “Maybe it is a thief” Happiness tries to...