Eli's Wife 13

Eli, his mother and his sister sat by their father in the hospital. He had been rushed there because of a heart attack. Luckily the president was stable. They watched as he lay there sleeping. Doctor Richard said he would be fine in no time and it was probably caused by stress. Eli left his father's side and saw Sena pacing in front of the hospital's canteen. "Trouble deciding whether to eat or not?" Eli teased. She smiled and hugged him.

 He looked at her and asked her what she said to his father. Sena shrugged and tried to change the subject. Eli kept asking. His voice even went up. He was getting angry. "Sena, you were the only one with my father when he had an attack. What the hell did you tell him?!" Eli asked furiously. Sena fumbled but after she noticed Eli wouldn't budge she looked around and signaled for them to sit down in an empty corner. Before she could say anything, Afi rushed to them. "Dad wants to talk to you." She said grabbing Eli's hand. "I'll be right back." he said to Sena and left with his sister.

  When Eli got to his father the nurse was just leaving his room. His mother turned to look at him with a worried look on her face. "Afi, let's go and get daddy a cup of water." she said. Before Afi could point out to the bottle of water by President Tamakloe's table the first lady had dragged her away. Eli sat down next to his father.

   “Eli there’s something I need to tell you. I should have told you this a long time ago but I didn’t know how.” President Tamakloe started. “Many years ago, before I was President your mum had a complication with her pregnancy. The baby was stillborn and her womb got damaged as well. The doctors said chances of her having another child was very slim. That very day there was a woman who also having a baby. Her name was Deborah Quaye. She was a janitor at a school nearby. The doctor came to me and we thought about us having her baby and paying her. We knew it was wrong but for my political career to take off I needed a child.” He paused for a second and continued. “She agreed to take the money and we had you. You were a bundle of joy to us, a gift from God. We decided to make her a surogate for our next child but she said she lost the child. I believe this was a lie looking at the age of the journalist. Five years later miraculously your mother had Afi. We only tried again because you said you wanted someone to play with. You gave us hope. I know I should have told you all this but I just couldn’t. I hope you forgive me.” He said looking directly at Eli.

  Eli sat there quietly for a while. It was a lot to take in. “Where is Deborah, where is my real mother?” he asked looking down. President Tamakloe hesitated for a while “We flew her to Nigeria to start a new life there with her family. The last I heard was she got sick and passed away. Eli, Sena believes Charles is her son.” he answered. Eli’s heart missed a beat. Nothing could have prepared him for all the things he was hearing. He stood up. “Thank you for sharing this with me. The truth is very important.” He said and walked out. President Tamakloe called him back several times but he just kept walking.



 To be continued for the last time...

The last night

I shot him three times and a fourth time just to make sure

I grabbed the gun from his belt strap and fired it

He never thought I would ever use or even go for it

I run to where he dropped his clothes

I dodged his grip and I knew this time I had won

I turned around and yelled. “I hate you!” Several times

If only mum would believe me. ‘He’s a police officer’ she always said

 It was my birthday, how could he be so wicked?

I closed my eyes and pretended to be fast asleep

My heart was pounding. The plan in my head scared me

He closed the door like he usually did and walked to my bed….

(Odd no? try reading it from bottom to top )

He fell asleep on my shoulder

I wasn’t exactly late for church this Sunday. I made it just in time to hear the first reading. I sat outside as usual on a plastic chair. It wasn’t really because I was late oh, the plastic chairs are just more comfortable to me. The sermon was nice and long and Father was talking mostly about marriage. I smiled and giggled. Was I ready? Clearly not. As the mass went on, kids would run to their mothers every now and then and whisper into their ears. Their mums will give them money or whisper back to them and they would run back. It was really cute. I smiled and wondered when I would be doing same for my kids. Would I have a son or a daughter? Maybe both. Thoughts I usually keep to myself so I don’t scare my boyfriend (lol). 

It was prayer time and I closed my eyes and said a silent personal prayer. When I opened my eyes something hit me. I keep asking God for so many things. He definitely gives me majority and I guess the rest will come in His time but seriously what do I do for Him? I sat up and said to myself. “From now on I’m going to pay my dues. Well at least do the little I can.” I smiled and felt really good about myself. When it was time to shake hands I’m sure everyone noticed how genuine my smile was. There was this cute little boy (about 1 and a half years old) who was walking all over the place. His family was sitting right next to me. I didn’t notice him standing in front of me till something touched my feet and I looked down. He had his hand stretched out so I giggled and shook his hand. He made a little sound and raised both of his hands. For those of you who know nothing about kids, this is a way of saying “carry me”. I smiled immediately and lifted him up. He held my blouse tightly and put his little head on my shoulder. 

My heart felt warm. He didn’t know who I was and vice versa but he put his trust in me to carry him. I sang along with the choir and swayed slowly to rock this angel in my arms. I could see a number of people staring. Well of course they would, I almost always came to church alone and went back same. Me carrying a child was definitely news. Then I felt his grip loosen. Was he falling asleep? I could feel his tiny weight more. I was right, I was humbled, I was melting. For no other reason than that the little boy fell asleep on my shoulder. His older brother came for him from me. He woke up in the transfer and started crying. His father carried him and he fell asleep again.  

When the mass ended I went home with a big smile. I had a flat tyre and had to change it, my trip to the swimming pool had to be rescheduled, my friend was leaving town for a very long time but none of these could take away that feeling. That amazing feeling I got when he fell asleep on my shoulder.

One 'two' love

I'm a girl. No two ways about it. I missed Kwame so much. I couldn't deny it. It had been seven months since we broke up and I knew thinking about him wouldn't help but was it my fault? Eh, was it my fault that they were playing his favourite song on the radio? "Forget him, if he really loved you he would have come after you." I said to myself. Well then again he did, once. I should have taken him back eh? No but what if he lied to me again? Ah but people lie all the time. Maybe I was harsh but maybe too we were just not meant to be together. Ahhhh, too much talk. I was almost at my junction now. The taxi driver stopped and I got out of the car. I pulled out my earphone. I wasn't going to keep listening to that song. 

I opened the gate and it felt like my house gave me a big hug. My niece yelled out my name and rushed to me. I felt a bit more cheerful. "Hello, you have missed me eh? When did you get here Kabuki?" I asked, lifting her up. "Just now. Auntie some boy bi is looking for you." She replied playing with my earring. "Eh, which boy is that?" I asked smiling. I put her down and she dragged me. This energetic little girl. "He is nice papa, and he gave me this." She said and brought out a piece of a key holder. My heart missed a beat. It was Kwame's.

I looked up and froze. It was him. It was really him. Wow and my niece was right. He was a nice boy papa. "Uncle Kwame I showed her the thing you gave me." Kabuki said and broke the silence. He smiled, I missed that smile. "I'm going to show it to Grandma and Grandpa." She said again and run off. There were a thousand things I wanted to ask him. "You have a very interesting niece. She actually taught me some things." He said. His voice hadn't changed; neither had his funny accent. I smiled and nodded. "So we did a lot of talking..." He started. "Who is we?" I asked. He paused. "Me and Kabuki." he replied. I giggled and signaled that he go on. "I wanted to talk to you but I want to hear you talk first. This time I don't want us to fight so we will do it in a nursery rhyme." He continued. "Huh? I said giggling. Was he serious? To be honest it sounded like fun. "We are using 'one two buckle my shoe'. Let the words represent what you feel about us. Ok? Please just give it a try." He said. I could see genuineness in his eyes. I can't explain it, I could just see it.

 "Ok, here we go." I said and recited....

One two, who are you?
Three four, what are you looking for?
Five six, what can you fix?
Seven eight, don’t you think you are late?
Nine ten, why are you here again?

Kwame took a deep breath and moved closer to me. He looked at me right in the eyes and recited his verse.

One two, a man in love with you
Three four, to keep your heart secure
Five six, us, this time with no tricks
Seven eight, yes I believe u are my soul mate
Nine ten, to love you now more than I did then

Call it cheesy, call it silly, call it whatever you like but that was the day I fell in love with Kwame. Maybe I was in love with him the whole time but I just needed that little spark of magic to put it all together. Love is in the air....

The Little ones

Kids are so interesting. They amuse me every time. I had the chance to spend some time with my nieces and it was more fun than I expected. I definitely want to have children one day and my future husband better be ready! I came home from a very stressful day. The flexibility of my job is quiet fun but the unpredictable nature is also annoying. A day before, I planned to have my hair braided and spend the rest of the day working at home. Just before I knew it my planned had to change. I received a call. Had to meet up with my business partner, get some design work done together and meet up with a client to deliver the work. After the hustle and bustle in town I got back at about 8pm.

When I got back, two things were on my mind; eating and sleeping. When I settled in and had my supper sleep didn’t look far from me but my nieces asked me to put them to bed. ‘That wouldn’t take long.’ I said to myself and nodded. As I waited for them to brush their teeth, I glanced through their photo album. All three of us ended up going through the photos and teasing each other. It was then time to sleep. One said to me when they were well tucked in, ‘I want Winnie, my teddy bear.’ The other asked for hers whose name seemed to change by the minute. I walked to their play room and came back with two stuffed animals that matched the descriptions they gave. Immediately I entered their room there was a huge outburst of laughter. ‘What is it?’ I asked giggling myself. ‘That’s not Winnie. That’s Winnie’s sister.’ My niece corrected. Wow, how was I supposed to know that.

After I got the exact toys they asked for it was story time. We each had to tell a story. Apparently this is some ritual I also don’t know about. I listened to their fairy tale cartoon inspired stories and decided to be a lot more creative and less fantasist. I told them an Ananse story and was surprised to see their extreme interest in the story. When the story ended instead of having them fall asleep they weren’t just wide awake, they wanted more. At that moment I wondered why I didn’t stick to the usual boring happily ever after story they were used to. Instead of telling stories we decided to sing songs from cartoons we had all seen. The Little Mermaid tunes were a favourite. After all this they were worked out and half asleep. I turned out the lights and left their room after saying goodnight.

I had spent almost two hours with my two little girls and didn’t even notice it. Children are indeed something.