Jimmy was expecting company early one morning when he heard a knock on the door. He wasn’t surprise at all when he answered it to find two policemen standing in front of him. There was no need for him to struggle; he cooperated with them and got in the car. During the journey to the police station, he peered out the window, just in case it was his last day of freedom. It didn’t take too long before he was led into a plain, old and boring investigation room. It wasn’t his first time there, so he didn’t know what to feel. When two policemen sat in front of him, he knew he was up to tell his side of the story.
It started when he was leaving the hospital after visiting a friend. He closed the door behind him and sauntered along the peaceful corridor. A nurse was pushing a patient in the wheelchair while another nurse followed behind. Even from afar, Jimmy knew the woman in the wheel chair was beaten up. Her black and blue face and her left arm in a sling confirmed that when Jimmy got closer to her. The woman looked terrified and in pain.
“Another case of an abusive husband,” Jimmy heard the nurse whispered. As she said that, a young man walked at a fast pace and rushed past Jimmy to catch up with the nurses and the patient. Jimmy reached the end of the corridor and sat on the blue chair while he watched them going into the room.
Jimmy knew all that would happen soon. He did it before, and he wasn’t sorry. While he sat on the chair waiting for the right moment, he pretended to read. After the nurses left the room, they continued whispering. Jimmy was good at reading lips, and he gathered that the patient in the wheelchair was the wife to the man who rushed past Jimmy. He slapped her around, beat her up, and broke her arm. Just by reading those words off the nurse’s lips, it made Jimmy’s blood boil.
Few minutes later, the man left the room and walked towards the elevator. Jimmy got up and followed him. When the door to the elevator opened, both of them entered it. That man smiled at Jimmy before he turned his attention to his phone. Jimmy hated that sort of men, the ones who dressed smartly to deceive the world but behind closed door, they turned into a beast. Jimmy observed his every move and when the stranger realised Jimmy was watching him, he cleared his throat.
“Busy night tonight,” the stranger commented. “I have a date to get to.”
“Isn’t that your wife in the room?” Jimmy had to ask.
“No,” he shook his head and looked away. “She’s my cousin.”
“What happened to her?”
“She was clumsy when cleaning the house. She fell down and broke her arm,” the man answered, coolness in his voice.
“And her face? It looks pretty bang up, don’t you think?”
“Yes, she probably hit the table or something,” he replied.
“I see.”
When they reached the parking lot, Jimmy walked behind that man. Sensing that he was being followed, he turned around.
“Are you following me?”
“What do you think?” Jimmy asked.
“Why?”
“Because that woman up there isn’t your cousin. She is your wife and she didn’t fall down,” Jimmy started, calm and collected. “You put your mark on her and you broke her arm. How could you do that to her?”
“I’m just going to ignore you,” the stranger said, but then, he turned around and started attacking Jimmy with a pocket knife. “Mind your own business, old man before I hurt you even more.”
Jimmy was cut on his arm, and it missed his face by a millimetre. Anger was already brewing and the next thing he knew, he was sitting on that man and beating him to a pulp. Jimmy only stopped when he thought he heard his daughter.
“You are not a man! You are nothing!” Jimmy spat when he stood up. “You’re a coward who can only hit women. I dare you to get up and hit me. The next time you want to hurt your wife or any woman, think again. There are many of us out there.”
Jimmy walked away, leaving the stranger in a pool of blood. Every time Jimmy encountered an abusive husband, he would put him in his place. That was all he could do.
“So, you are the famous protector,” the policeman pointed out during the investigation.
“Somebody has to teach these so called ‘man’,” Jimmy air quoted his word. “Do you have daughters or sisters?” They nodded. “Imagine somebody hurting them just because they can.”
The policemen knew Jimmy’s story. Jimmy’s daughter was murdered by her husband. Jimmy knew nothing about the on-going abuse until it was too late. When he found out his son-in-law abused and finally murdered her daughter, it took all the control he had to stop himself from killing him. After grieving for a long time, he joined men who protected women from their husbands.
Carina Lim bears different messages through her fiction. These messages could be useful in life. She can be contacted at mermaidgal03@yahoo.com
