Karma

Mags looked in the mirror and sighed ‘another black eye,
She was putting on make-up before the kids woke up.
This was becoming the norm each morning after Kev her husband had been on a session after work
.She swore she would never let a man beat her, her own father had beat her mother black and blue and she hated it, hated the fear she had now as a grown woman. She hated men.

Her husband Kev was a violent narcissistic drunk but she loved him so much that the thought of leaving him made her feel physically sick
, she had 3 children and knew she would never get by without his help, not much help but the wages he did give her, she paid the bills and fed and clothe the children, she was good with money she knew how to shop for good bargains and knew what types of meals to prepare when money was scarce, she had a good head on her shoulders.

He often said ‘who would want a useless fat old cow like you? As well as other awful things, but she put up with it.
Nobody knew Kev was like this; he was what people called 'Street Angel House Devil.' He had the gift of the gab he was a charmer, mags mother said he would sell snow to the Eskimos or sand to the Arabs.
Mags used to be a good-looking girl, but after giving birth and being under stress, and getting beatings all the time, her looks were starting to fade, in fact, she looked 40 instead of 30

Kev was a bricklayer, while mags stayed home and kept their home clean and made sure dinner was on time for Kev coming home.
One night mags sat watching the telly when Kev got home, he had been in the pub after work and was very drunk, he wanted sex but mags were so tired and were not in the mood,
Kev beat her and raped his wife on the floor while the children were asleep upstairs. this was a regular thing when he was drunk.

The next morning he always acted as tho nothing had happened, and she played along because she knew that if she didn't it would be worse when he got home drunk that night, she didn't want her kids to see it, she saw enough as a child with her father hitting her mother.

A few weeks later she was cleaning up and her youngest child said ‘mammy why was daddy kissing that girl outside the pub’?
Her heart sank she felt like she couldn't breathe, surely her child had mixed up what he thought he saw, he was only 5 but the look on the other 2 older children told her what she needed to know.
She had to act cool, she said ‘Oh you know your dad when he gets drunk’! And the subject was changed.
It was all mags could think about, she could not look at Kev and for peace, she could not say a thing. She needed a plan, she had to get away from him, but he would never let her or the kids go.

She wanted to confront Kev about what the kids had told her but she knew that he would deny it, or worse start on the kids and accuse them of lying she knew it wouldn't be worth it so for now she had to bite her tongue, she kept thinking KARMA in the back of her mind, she didn't know how or when she just always believed that you get back what you put out to the world, she thought about this a lot, in fact, she lived by this rule, always treat others how you want to be treated and always said the phrase’ it's nice to be important but its more important to be nice the one thing Kev didn't know how to be.


One day she saw in the local news that the local cleaners were looking for staff, she knew she could do that while Kev was at work, it was only 2 hours each morning,
She saved her wages from the job plus whatever money she could from Kev's wages and when he was drunk she went through his pockets and took his change he would never know what he had in his pockets leaving the pub he would be twisted drunk.
Mags carried on working and saving for a few months she was planning on running away, she lived in Dublin all her life but wanted to move to England, as far away from Kev as she could get. she knew he had a new girlfriend, he didn't even try to hide the lipstick stains or the smell of perfume, she hated it but she had to be strong for the kids and play the game, she had to pretend that she didn't know about his affair, or else act as though she was really scared to confront him about it.

Mags was planning on moving to England with the 3 kids just after Christmas, she had passports and the money ready she was leaving clothes and toys as these can be replaced easily. She would be going over to her older cousin Karen, they had always been close, and they spoke weekly on the phone box around the corner from her house. they didn't write letters because if Kev found these it would be game over.

One evening mags had just got the 3 children bathed and asleep when Kev came in drunker than usual, he looked at her a certain way and her heart sank, she could always tell if its good mood Kev or bad mood angry Kev as she called it by just one look.
Mag's heart sank to her stomach, she lit a cigarette to calm her nerves but it didn't help, he attacked her really badly, she had two big black eyes and her face was swollen, he raped her again also and went to bed while she lay on the floor in agony too sore to get up.

A few weeks later Mags was preparing dinner it was her favorite, on Friday nights they had potatoes fish, and parsley white sauce, but the smell of it really turned her stomach, she had to run to the bathroom, where she threw up. she was pregnant, it broke her heart, how was she going to get away now, how would she be able to do her second job, mags adored children but she knew she couldn't bring another child into this nightmare with Kev, it wasn't fair. she walked around to the phone box and called her cousin and just cried for the entire phone call, her cousin told her to go home have a cuppa tea, and ring back when she was feeling a bit better.

One night it was getting late and there was no sign of Kev, mags just assumed he was in the pub drunk as a skink as usual when the doorbell rang
She opened the door are you, Margareth Murray?’ ‘yes what's wrong? she asked
'Your husband has been knocked down and killed by a hit-and-run driver
Mrs murray I'm sorry for your loss.'
She was in shock, she wanted to get away from him, she never wished him dead but she was relieved in her own way, sad for the kids for losing their father.

A few days after the funeral was over another knock came on the door it was The insurance company and the job that employed Kev had insurance out on all the staff, she was given a check for 89,000euros
She thought of the word KARMA once again and smiled,
Life really had a funny way of helping people out when they really needed it.


The End.