As Silent As Night

Growing up, we had these family friends
Four children and a mum who was a secondary school teacher
We attended the same church
Ten years after knowing the family and assuming that their mother was a single parent, I went to their house with my sisters one day, and I met their father for the first time
The man was an extreme introvert
He does not talk to anybody, stays in his room all the time, and moves like a cat (No noise whatsoever)
We had been to their house over fifty times before I saw him, and that was the only time I ever saw him.

When I got home that day, I asked my mum if she knew the Akano's have a daddy
She said she did
I asked if anything was wrong with the man because when he came into his own house, his children continued on without even acknowledging him
In our own house, when our father comes home from work or comes into the sitting room, we would flock around him and babble excitedly
I found the way his children behaved as if he were not there strange

My mother explained to me what it meant to be an introvert
Someone whose nature is such that he spends all his time alone and in calm environments because the chaos children create disturbs him (something like that)
Then I asked my mother how he "toasted" his wife and married her if he does not interact with people by nature
My mummy said, "A friend of his went to ask his wife out on his behalf, and because she didn't have any other suitor, she accepted."

The man died a few years later.
He had a stroke in his room, and nobody noticed for several hours
He was rushed to the hospital, and he gave up the ghost after a few days.

I have met deeply introverted people; some of them are so strange it seemed as if they were on the fringes of mental illness.
I can write about at least five of them
One of the other ones I know also has children who behave exactly like him
Only their mother (his wife) is outgoing
Their mother tells me that she only knows they are home by looking for a reflection of light under their room doors
One of those children, a Ph.D holder, committed suicide about five years ago
Nobody knew she was struggling with depression because she had always been an extreme introvert.

PS: If you get married to anyone who is like this with your two eyes wide open, don't turn around and complain of emotional unavailability
It will be gaslighting of the highest order
When the younger brother of the sister who committed suicide was getting married
I called his wife aside and begged her
I explained to her his nature is and all the attending benefits
He will be a provider, he will be faithful, and he will give you peace of mind
If you act inappropriately, he will not complain, blow out or even see you
When it gets too much for him, he will just walk away
So keep all the usual feminine drama away from him
Speak plainly to him, and whenever he seems lost in himself, please engage him.
The marriage has produced two children now, and they are both doing very well.

-GSW-