How this woman, managed to, live through years of abuse by her husband, something I wouldn’t recommend, because if you’re abused, you should, NOTIFY the authorities, and, get out of your abusive relationships, translated…
Aunty Hsiao lives upstairs, I’d known her since I was eight. And, there were, two reason why I knew her, first, she’d needed to pass through our front door as she goes out, and we’d bumped into one another a lot on the stairs; secondly, my mother taught me to greet the elders when I see them, and so, a lot of the elders loved talking to me.
picture from the papers…
Auntie Hsiao is a classic case of Taiwanese marrying an elderly retired serviceman, she and her husband were apart in the years, they have three children, one of them needed long-term care, it’s really hard on the family. Uncle Hsiao who’s hard of hearing would often scream so loud at Auntie Hsiao, and would get physical with her, and living downstairs, we’d often heard her scream out in pain. Being young, every time I’d come across her on the stairs, I’d always, skimmed her body worriedly, to see if there were, serious physical injuries she’d sustained. But I’d always seen her act, as if nothing had happened, one foot in front of the other, until she’d disappeared out of my sight.
I’d often run errands for my mother at the markets, and so, I’d bumped into Aunty Hsiao who walked around the markets. I’d slowly discovered, that she’d frequented the higher priced stands, and would smile and carry on in casual conversation with the vendors, totally unlike how she’d looked, with this bitterness. This made me even more curious, of the character that Auntie Hsiao had. She’d gotten physically abused, verbally insulted by her husband, who also needed to accompany a child who’s developmentally delayed, and yet, how come, I don’t see any of that when I looked at her?
Once, I was coming in, as I’d come home from outside, as I just stepped on the stairs, I’d found, Aunty Hsiao, taking something out of the small storage unit in between the stairs carefully, she’d opened it up, looked at it, then, put it back satisfactorily. I’d inquired to her playfully, “Aunty Hsiao, what treasure are you looking at?”, she’d just, smiled at me, mysteriously. And, even though, my curiosity became big as the skies, I’d, behaved myself, not dared, to open up the storage room that belonged to Aunty Hsiao to look.
photo from online…
Several decades flew past, I’m married off now, and naturally, I’d not seen Aunty Hsiao as often. Until one year as I’d gone home to visit, and heard the news of Uncle Hsiao’s death, I’d recalled how my mother had, weathered through the loss of my father, how trying that must’ve been. But, I was wrong, as I’d bumped into Aunty Hsiao again, she was wearing bright-colored clothes, with delicate makeup, looked more at ease than before.
Surely, Aunty Hsiao was tried for the over dozens of years she’d been married to Uncle Hsiao, at that moment, it’d finally dawned on me, that her husband’s death is a release for her. For a very long time, Aunty Hsiao worked hard, to put those days of abuse she’d endured behind her, and through buying the high-end food items, stashing it in the storage unit in the staircases, to balance her own emotions, that, must’ve been what helped her through all of it!
So, this woman found an alternative way, to rid herself of the negative experience of getting abused by her husband, by buying the high-end foods and items, and stashing it up in her own secret hiding place, and that, is something that belonged to just her, that nobody can take away, not even her husband, and, that, was how this woman coped, with the years of abuse she had to endure, from her abusive husband.
Life, the Obstacle Course 