Abuse

I have neighbors. On one side, there is this quiet Chinese family with their not so quiet pack of mutts that will bark only when they see strangers walking in front of their house. On the other side, there is this uber noisy Indian family that has dogs that will bark even at the sight of a speck of dust, and even worse, their owners are louder than the dogs most of the time.

The Indian family, the always, ALWAYS have rows in the family and let me tell you, they are definitely not shy to tell the world that their home is not a peaceful one. They will shout at each other, fighting outside the kitchen and all that. Especially the mother and her children. I have never heard the father raised his voice at all. In fact, I rarely see the father at home.

I am not one to be such a busy body in such affairs. I don't particularly care actually. But sometimes the noises are too loud, I feel like screaming at them back, wanting to tell them to shut the hell up! But today, I witnessed something really absurd. I think I witnessed an abuse.

It is rather acceptable for a mother to be angry to her teenage child. But as far as I remember, my mother does not lay her hands on her children when we have reached a certain age. All my mother does is just reprimand us with words and thoughts for us to think them through, which by the way, is much more effective.

Back to the scene that I saw today. At first I heard the regular rows between the mother and her daughter. Then I heard sounds of slaps and more screams. I peeked through my window and to my horror, I saw the mother using the pot to hit her daughter. And then I heard more slaps and I heard pail being thrown at someone. I think that is not reprimanding anymore, I think that is clear cut abuse.

As of the whole day after the incident today, I do not hear the daughter at all. She usually plays with the dogs in the evenings. I guess she locked herself after the incident.

Shall I call someone already?