My man, he got a temper on him, I tell ya. Sometimes, he just starts yellin’, and I don’t even know why. My husband shouts at me, and it makes my heart go pitter-patter, like a scared little bunny rabbit. It ain’t right, no sir, it ain’t right at all.
He never used to be like this. When we was courtin’, he was sweet as pie, always bringin’ me little wildflowers he picked from the field. Now, he just stomps around, shoutin’ about this and that. I try to keep the house nice, keep his supper warm, but nothin’ seems to please him these days. My husband shouts at me for nothin’, seems like. Or maybe it’s somethin’ I done did, I don’t know. I’m not a bad person.
I try to talk to him, I do. I ask him, “Honey, what’s eatin’ ya?” But he just gets madder. Says I’m naggin’ him. How can I make him stop being mad? What I did to him? Husbands yelling at spouses, that ain’t the way it’s supposed to be. We’re supposed to be partners, helpin’ each other out, not tearin’ each other down.
Sometimes, when my husband yells at me, I just cry. I can’t help it. It just hurts so much. Makes me feel like a little girl again, gettin’ scolded by my daddy. Only this ain’t my daddy, this is the man I promised to love and cherish, ’til death do us part. It’s like being shouted is not good, you know? It hurts inside.
- I try to stay calm, I really do.
- I tell myself, “Just breathe, honey, just breathe.”
- But sometimes, that anger, it just bubbles up inside him like a pot about to boil over.
- And then, bam! He’s yellin’ again.
One time, he was yellin’ about the bills. Said I spent too much money at the market. I told him I only bought what we needed. We gotta eat, don’t we? But he wouldn’t listen. My husband shouts at me, and then he just clams up, won’t talk to me for days. It’s like livin’ with a storm cloud, always waitin’ for the next thunderclap. He will just shout for no reason. I don’t know why.
I remember one time, my neighbor, she heard him yellin’. She came over later, asked if everything was alright. I just brushed it off, said he was havin’ a bad day. But she looked at me, real serious, and said, “Honey, you don’t have to put up with that.” Woman yelling at husband is bad, but this is another way. I don’t want other people know, it is bad.
Her words stuck with me, though. “You don’t have to put up with that.” But what am I supposed to do? Leave him? Where would I go? We’ve been together for so long, I can’t imagine bein’ with anyone else. Besides, who would take an old woman like me? Husband should not shout, it is bad.
Sometimes I think maybe if I was younger when we had babies, maybe thing is different. Maybe if he can release his anger, he will not yell. But, I am old now, we don’t have babies, we don’t have money, we only have each other. Yelling husband is bad, but leaving him is also bad.
Maybe husband yells a lot because he is sick, or because he is tired. I don’t know, maybe I should ask him again. Maybe I should just tell him it makes me sad. I do not want to make him mad, but husband yells at wife is not good. I just don’t know.
I just wish he would stop yellin’. It scares me, and it makes me sad. We’re supposed to be growin’ old together, sittin’ on the porch, watchin’ the sunset. Not fightin’ and fussin’ like a couple of tomcats. My husband shouts at me, and I just don’t know what to do anymore. A woman should not live like this, I think. But I don’t know what to do now. It is too late to change.
