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Monsieur’s daughter —(Part 6)
Gladys opened her eyes, picked up the phone and checked the time. It was just past three. Quite a number of issues were competing for attention in her mind, even though Simon was just by her, snoring gently.
She had already given up on Simon’s laziness and general attitude. But money was becoming a problem. She had done her best to provide for the family, but in some couple of months the WASSCE results would be published, and Sarah would almost certainly be going to university.
How on earth was she going to find money for school fees, hostel accommodation, food and clothing, and pocket money? She was already excited about going to the university, assuming that her mother would find a way to provide her needs. There was almost enough time to start looking for money.
She would go and speak to her bank manager and the folks at the credit union, and she would speak to her friend Catherine with whom she had done joint contracts every now and then. But with the whole house financially dependent on her, it was still going to be quite difficult.
There was, of course, a very simple solution staring her in the face. David Asante. Monsieur. All she needed to do was contact him, and the whole problem, and maybe some of her other problems, would be solved.
But David was the one person she hated with a passion. She hated him for rejecting her, even though she and her family had gone and fallen at his feet to beg for forgiveness. He had stood his ground, dissolved the marriage and flown to Germany.
She admitted that she had made a big mistake. Simon came back to Ghana a few months after she had married David, and she had spent a few evenings in a hotel with him, just to catch some romantic breeze from the past.
He returned a few months later, and they spent another couple of evenings together. That was all. She had no intention of continuing the relationship with Simon. But word had filtered through to David, and he put an emphatic stop to the marriage.
That was quite heartless, and David deserved to be punished for that. She had no regrets, therefore, for telling him that Sarah was not his, but Simon’s baby. That was her emotional retribution for the rejection.
Using her wits, she quickly moved to get Simon to marry her and claim Sarah as his child. If Simon had only made a modest attempt at taking responsibility for the family upkeep, there would be peace. Unfortunately, the house was always in turmoil. She had come to accept the responsibility of taking care of Simon as one of his children.
She got up to get a drink of water from the kitchen. She opened the door and found Sarah seated in the couch, wide awake.
‘Sarah, why, you are unable to sleep? ‘
‘I was waiting to talk to you’.
‘Okay, Sarah. Talk to me. What’s the problem? ‘
‘I want to know who my father is’.
‘How could you say that, Sarah? You know who your….’
‘I want to know who my father is! For a long time I have been hearing the arguments you and Daddy have been making about me. I’m not stupid. Daddy doesn’t like me. I am tired of the confusion in this house. My friends are always asking me what the problem at home is. And I have already heard people saying things. If you won’t tell me, I will take everything into my hands. I won’t continue living like this. I’m tired’.
Simon appeared in the hall and sat down as Gladys stared at the floor.
‘Gladys, if you have anything to set your daughter’s mind at rest, tell her now’. Sarah stared at him.
‘Okay, listen. Your real father is called David Asante. He and I were teachers in the Western Region. He rejected you when you were born, but Daddy stepped in and claimed you, and has been in your life since then. You see, your father is the one who claims you and makes an effort to take care of you. You see, we are not a perfect family, but most families have problems. I’m very sorry for what you call the confusion in this house. Please forgive us.
We will try our very best to keep peace, not only for you but for your siblings too. Daddy and I have already started making plans to find money to take care of your needs when the WASSCE results come in. You are certainly a brilliant student, and we will make sure you go to the university and do something big in future.
I want you to remember, Sarah. Your father rejected you from day one. He hasn’t spent a penny on you since you were born, and he has not tried to find out how you even look like. Is that a father? And another thing. He was always into visiting shrines and the occult, and I don’t think you are safe with him. I would kindly advise you to take it easy for now, and concentrate on your university education. Later on, when you like, you can find him. I don’t know what will happen now if you make the effort’.
‘Sarah’, Simon added, ‘the truth is what your mother has told you. I’m sorry for anything I have said which may have troubled you. Please forgive me, and let’s stick together as a family, okay?’
She nodded and went off to sleep. They sounded a little convincing, she told herself. But she didn’t believe them one bit. She would go and see Ms Odame and present the new information to her. Perhaps she would help her get to the truth.
Later in the morning, she sneaked into her parents’ bedroom, picked her handbag and dashed into the toilet. She removed the phone and scrolled down, but didn’t find what she wanted. Then she took out the little notebook and opened it.
Quite a few phone numbers had been written in it. She scanned carefully, and there it was! David Asante. Her hands shaking, she copied it and replaced the handbag. At long last! Now she was going to confront that irresponsible man who had allowed her to suffer all those years.
Sarah knocked on the door of Ms Odame’s house.
‘Sarah! It’s so good to see you. I was just about to attend a family meeting. Please sit down while I fix you a drink’.
‘Madam, I don’t want a drink. Something happened this morning’.
‘Okay, let me hear it’. She listened as Sarah recounted the discussion she had had with her parents.
‘Sarah, you have suffered for far too long. We will solve the problem today. Give me a minute’, she said. She went to her bedroom and called Mr David Asante’s number.
‘Sarah’, Simon added, ‘the truth is what your mother has told you. I’m sorry for anything I have said which may have troubled you. Please forgive me, and let’s stick together as a family, okay?’
By Ekow de Heer
A haircut I had about a week ago didn’t go down well with many. Someone quite close to my heart saw it, examined it critically and felt dizzy.
“What’s this?” she proceeded to ask me.
“An international hairdo,” I replied.
She was disgusted, in fact disappointed. The problem with the haircut is that the style is neither Punk, Tokyo Joe nor Show Your Back. If anything, it is a combination of all—and I liked it, for a change.
It was when I bounded downtown that someone called me and enquired whether I was no longer a journalist. He said I looked like a well-fed Warrant Officer.
“Class One or Class Two?” I asked.
Another studied my head as if he was studying physical geography and pronounced that I looked like a boxer who can throw dangerous punches. Still, someone was of the opinion that the haircut didn’t quite fit me, but admitted that I looked like a prosperous merchant.
Commendation
I remember some three months ago, I had a haircut that made two girls fall in love with me. In spite of the fact that the barber was not a graduate, the cut was such that they couldn’t help admiring it. One of them actually ‘checked out’ the style and commended the barber.
The other was more bent on the ‘love matter’ but I was too busy to give her any attention. LOVE!
I was reminded of this when I viewed a premier showing of the latest Sikaman film titled THE POWER OF LOVE. The film kept me thinking. Some of us have long forgotten about what it is like to be head-over-heels in love. When we were students, we had such experiences because there was nothing doing anyway.
We were either learning how stylishly to smoke ‘jot’ or how romantically to fall in love. Anyhow, I was intrigued by this latest movie because of the way love unlimited was portrayed on screen. It took my memory back many years to relive those youthful days when we felt we’d really die if jilted by our lovers.
The storyline of THE POWER OF LOVE is really an exciting one. The combination of love, treachery and intrigue made me feast my eyes intently on the screen, unbelieving the extent the force of love can reach.
Ama and Afua are good friends. But when it comes to matters of the heart, they have different tastes; Ama is content with only her boyfriend (a student) and Afua samples the bigwigs around town. Afua, not satisfied with the shots in town, wants Ama’s boyfriend Joe in addition. She lies to Joe that Ama has often been picked by a man on four-wheels, whereupon Joe dismisses Ama and takes on Afua.
Ama doesn’t realise that it is her best friend Afua who is destroying her relationship with Joe until she catches her having sex with him. She collapses and goes out of her mind from the broken heart. But before then, she had been made pregnant by Joe.
Having escaped from a psychiatric hospital, she roams town murmuring Joe’s name. Heavily pregnant now, she espies Joe boarding a mini bus and runs towards him. Joe, seeing her approaching, quickly disembarks and takes off.
Ama pursues him furiously, and he runs to his home where he finds his bosom friend Frank making love to Afua. He immediately realises the treachery of Afua who instigated him to leave Ama.
He intends leaving the home in disgust and meets mad Ama at the door and embraces her despite her madness. Instantly, she regains her sanity.
Love indeed heals the wounds of the mind and it is the greatest positive force in the world. Incidentally, the greatest negative force is hatred.
Greatest force
Now coming to talk about love, I reiterate it is the greatest force imaginable. That is why a man will butcher his rival to death if he catches him climbing his wife without asking permission; and a woman will go mad if jilted.
It is also for this reason that a young boy who is scared stiff of cemeteries and under normal circumstances would not dare go near one, will this time walk boldly through a cemetery at midnight if that is the only way to his lover’s abode.
The Bible describes love for our neighbours as the surest way to heaven: Love thy neighbour as thyself.
Unfortunately, what Ghanaians are more interested and skilful in is loving the opposite sex. Romance under the cover of darkness is what we understand love to be all about. When it comes to loving our fellow human beings, we are found wanting.
People hate others just because they are of another tribe and do not speak the same native language. Too much grudge-bearing that does not augur well for national development.
War in Liberia, carnage in Rwanda are the results of the absence of love for one’s fellow being. If everybody could express a little bit of love for his fellow being irrespective of tribe, race, politics or religion, Sikaman—and indeed, the world—will be a more habitable place.
This article was first published on Saturday, October 29, 1994
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“Sir,” Ms. Odame said when David Asante answered the call, “my name is Victoria Odame. I’m a teacher at Research School in Koforidua. I would like to come and see you concerning a student called Sarah.”
“Okay, madam. I would be very glad to meet you. How can I make your trip easier?”
“I was going to join a bus to Accra.”
“Here’s what we will do. Take a taxi and ask them to bring you to Accra. I will speak to the driver, give him the directions, and pay him when you get here.”
The taxi stopped in front of the house. The gate opened, and the driver moved to the long driveway and stopped.
“What a beautiful house,” he said.
David and Adoma came out to meet them. Adoma paid the driver as David and Sarah stared at each other.
“Please come in and sit down,” Adoma invited. She served them water.
“You are welcome,” Adoma continued. “We have been waiting anxiously since you called this morning. So please, let’s hear you.”
Before she could open her mouth, Sarah rose, moved to David, hugged him, and sat on his lap. They both broke into tears. Adoma and Ms. Odame also broke into tears.
“Sorry, madam,” David said. “This whole episode has been a very difficult one. But let’s do the proper thing. Let’s hear you first, and I will also speak. I’m sure we need to answer some questions immediately.”
“Okay, sir. I have been taking an interest in Sarah because, although she’s brilliant academically, she seemed to be troubled. Following my discussions with her and some whispers I had been hearing, I went to Aboso Senior High School and spoke to your former colleague, Mr. Hanson. He told me that you were an exemplary teacher who was loved by all, and he also told me about the unfortunate events that caused you to leave for Germany. So I returned to Koforidua with the view to finding the appropriate means of helping to solve this problem.”
“Great. Ms. Odame, I have to thank you for finally helping us to solve this problem. Now, let me state the facts. This is what happened.
“Gladys and I met and got married whilst we were both teachers in the school. Some months into our marriage, she told me that she needed to spend some days with her parents, and I agreed.
“It turned out that she was actually spending time in a hotel with her ex-boyfriend, Simon. This happened again after Sarah was born. I got wind of this and told her that I was no longer interested in the marriage.
“I started preparing to travel to Germany. She pleaded for forgiveness, but I stood my ground. Then she told me that she would punish me for rejecting her.
“She came out later to say that Sarah was not my child, but Simon’s. She went and hid her somewhere, obviously expecting that I would fight to take my child. I was actually going to do that, but my parents advised me that it was almost impossible to win such a fight.
“They advised that, difficult as it sounded, I should leave the child with her because she would come back to me eventually. I have absolutely no problem taking care of you, Sarah. I am taking care of quite a number of kids who are not mine. So that is what happened. My hands were tied. I have been trying to find out how you are doing.
“I kept hearing that you were doing well at school. I also heard that Gladys and her husband were having problems, but I kept hoping that my daughter would at least be okay till it was possible for me to go for her.”
“Sarah, now you have met your dad. You will be free to—”
“I’m not going anywhere!” she declared as she held on to him.
“You don’t have to worry about that, Sarah,” Adoma said. “We have been looking forward to the day you come home. This is your home. Now, you have to meet your siblings.” She called Abrefi and Adaawa.
“Girls, we told you that you have a sister who would join us anytime. Now here she is.”
“Sarah?” Abrefi asked.
“Yes,” Adoma replied. The girls hugged her and took her away.
“Now,” David said, “I think it is time to call Madam Gladys.” He dialed the number.
“My name is David Asante. I’m here in my house with my daughter Sarah. I hear you have told her all sorts of crazy stories about me. I could make life very difficult for you, but I won’t.
“You are your own worst enemy. I don’t think you should be expecting her anytime soon. What do you say?”
Gladys stayed silent for over a minute, then cut the line.
“Food is ready,” Adoma announced. “Everybody, please come to the table.”
Sarah chatted excitedly with her siblings as Adoma and David spoke with Ms. Odame. She kept staring at her father.
“Now, Ms. Odame, after you have brought such joy into our home, should we allow you to go back to Koforidua today, or should we wait till we are ready to release you? I could call your husband and ask permission.
“And please don’t tell me you didn’t bring anything for an overnight stay. There are several supermarkets around here. We can fix that problem quickly.”
“I will beg you to release me. Now that I have been so warmly welcomed here, I already feel part of this home. Koforidua is not that far away, so I will visit often.”
“Well, let’s see what the kids have to say. Ladies, shall I release Ms. Odame to go back to Koforidua?”
“No!” they shouted, and all broke into laughter.
“Ms. Odame, I will have mercy on you. But we are going to do something to make it easy for you to visit us. My wife wants to show you something. Please follow her.”
Adoma led her to the driveway as the others followed. They stopped in front of the car.
“This is a Toyota Corolla 1600. It is very reliable and good on petrol consumption. We are giving this to you in appreciation of your help in getting our daughter back to us.
“And here in this envelope is a little contribution to help you with maintenance. And here in this other envelope is a gift to help with your children’s school fees.”
As she stood, stunned, and stared from the car to the envelopes, David put his hand around his family.
“Let’s leave her to take a look at her car. Ms. Odame, one of my drivers will drive you to Koforidua and leave your car with you. We are waiting inside.”
By Ekow de Heer
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