TRINITY (NINE)

She knew and learnt much about the lighthouse after she stumbled upon a form two text book in her school. She read anything she laid her hands on. It laid on the compound and after making sure that nobody was looking at her, she picked it up, cleaned it and put it in her bag.

 At first it was difficult to make out the words but she made an effort to learn by writing the words she couldn’t pronounce on a paper and gave it to the older students.

 Some wanted to know why she was so eager to learn the words and asked her to be patient till she got to the stage where she would be taught everything she needed to know.

She never took offence to what they said to her. But went ahead to ask other students. She was able to read the difficult words and after two weeks, she had finished the whole text book. Aku’s grandmother had so many mouths to feed so they prepared different dishes every day.

She kept track of the time her grandmother would return and always came back home before her. Aku always paid her mother a visit twice a week so as to collect money for her upkeep. Her father had warned her against going to the beach to see him since he had not taught her how to swim yet.

He however visited her when he could and bought her sweets. She was always happy to see him around. Her father believed in being patient and talking nicely in order not to be misunderstood whereas her mother was hot blooded and didn’t like to repeat her statements. She spanked and yelled at her whenever she did something wrong.

Aku therefore tried not to end up in her mother’s bad books. She always remembered the very first time her mother laid her hands on her. She was seven then and had followed her mother to the market. She sat down quietly beside her till she saw another girl, her age group eating ice cream. She asked her mother who ignored her and went about her business. Aku kept gazing at the girl and the girl’s mother on noticing bought one for her.

Mrs. Tetteh shot a glance at her and her heart skipped a beat. She was confused as to whether to take it from the strange woman or not. Her mother thanked the woman and took it on her daughter’s behalf. She said nothing but gave her the ice cream and Aku nibbled till she was done.

When they finally got home, she had her bath and slept off as usual but was slashed in her sleep. She sobbed throughout the night and was warned not to accept gifts from strangers.

Aku came back to reality as cars behind her honked and both drivers and passengers roared their anger. It was a scorcher but the air conditioner kept the comfortable even when it was very hot outside. She had been lost in her thoughts for close to thirty minutes. She immediately drove on and stayed awake till she got home. She went straight into the kitchen and took out a canned drink.

 She went back to the hall and put on the television. It was a Monday and the TV stations had nothing interesting to show or so she thought. She opened up the canned drink and gulped it down.

Aku laid down for a while but soon became restless. She had no friends in the area she could visit and moreover her colleagues at work were the only people she really spoke to and spent much time with. She decided to go for a walk and get rid of the boredom but then again when she stepped out, she stood in front of the gate contemplating as to whether she really wanted to go out or not. She stood there transfixed and watched on as cars drove by.

 Most were very nice and she found herself admiring the choice of others. She closed eyes for a while and tried to breathe in fresh air. It was almost 6:00pm and the place was getting dark. Aku’s house was on top of the hill so she could see the houses that had been built down.

As it grew darker, lights in these houses were all turned on and it was nice scenery. She just stood and a smile flickered across her face .A middle-aged man on a Toyota Camry slowed down and waved. She waved back and he drove away.

Aku had no idea who the man was and felt a bit baffled. He could be anyone she thought and let that pass. A few minutes later, the lights that glowed began to flicker. She wanted to rush back in but as soon as she made the turn she heard ‘oooohhhh’. The lights were off.

TRINITY (EIGHT)

she shrugged and said "Does it matter?…I like the sound of the name and it looks like we would be here for a long time…and I don’t want to feel like an outsider so please call me Adjeley ok?"

Akosua went on and on about herself, her school and family and Aku only listened. She was a blabbermouth but Aku didn’t mind that at all. She had a friend now and was happy. She walked Aku to her house. She was a year older than Aku and thanked her for helping her out. That prompted Aku to ask her what really happened.

 And it took her almost forever to tell her everything. She started her story from when she woke up that morning but Aku was patient and occasionally smiled. Finally she got to the main reason and Aku sigh showing a sign of relief. Then she told her

"I saw 5 pesewas yesterday on the floor when I was walking down the street so I picked it and took it to school…she saw me and was asking for the money saying it was for her and that somebody saw me picking it up yesterday…I would have to pay back I guess" she added

Aku sympathized with her and asked her how she was going to get the money since she had none. She ignored the question and asked that they play "Ampe" which they played till Aku got hungry so decided to leave. She was already in front of the house and her grandmother had seen her but left her alone to play for a while.

Just as she turned to leave, her new friend who had chit-chatted about herself and forgot to ask Aku about herself called out to her"Hey….you didn’t tell me your name?"

 Aku smiled and shouted out her name to her and went away. Her grandmother had reserved her food so she sat down and ate it quietly. It was so obvious that her grandmother was fonder of her than her cousins because she was very quiet and stayed out of trouble.

She went back to her parents the next day after church. The days went by as usual. She was sent to fetch water one evening and caught a glimpse of Adoley fighting with a boy. Her friends stood around and watched on as she fought and won and they cheered her up. She carried the bucket of water and walked very fast past them.

 She was sure that Adoley had seen her but she didn’t look back and was pleased that nothing happened with her.She asked her parents if she could go back to her grandmother and school from there. They were surprised because they knew she didn’t like the place because of her cousins

 It was however a good idea because they wouldn’t have to bother about how she was faring when left alone in the house. Her mother agreed to her decision and she soon moved to Jamestown again which was only a few meters away from the market.

The days were boiling hot but the nights were cool and comfortable for sleeping. Aku’s life was made unbearable at home and especially when her grandmother was out. But Akosua was always there to keep her company. They were seen together everywhere. They played whenever they got the chance.

They talked about what happened in their various schools. Her adopted name as Aku always teased her with was soon catching up and soon the name Joana Akosua Obeng was lost. People referred to her as Adjeley as she became fluent in the dialect. She tried to act like one.Perhaps too hard and succeeded anyway but her parents were too busy to notice these changes.

Akosua now Adjeley became troublesome. She was eleven and roamed about a lot so became quite popular. Aku always allowed her to do the talking whenever they landed in any squabble. Aku who was now ten was learning steadily.

 She was doing well at school but tried to hide it since she didn’t want too many people to find out. Adjeley on the other hand was an average student. She didn’t pay too much attention in class and didn’t care much.

 They were acting out in order to be accepted in the area. Knowing too much would attract people to pick on her and she didn’t want that. They didn’t go out to look for trouble but would gang up and defend themselves whenever trouble caught up with them. 

Aku on her spare time would sneak to the lighthouse which was originally built by the British at James fort in 1871 but was replaced in the 1930s by the current Accra light which is 93ft (28m) with a visibility of 16 nautical miles (30km)

TRINITY (SEVEN)

The woman rained insults on the man and soon people gathered to watch. Apparently the man was the little girl’s father. She needed money to eat but he had refused so she walked from ‘Attukpai’ which was also within the Jamestown area to the Salaha market to take money from him.

 Her clothes were not clean and her hair was unkempt. She saw Aku eating the orange and looking at her parents fight over her. She ignored her at first but when she turned and looked at her direction, their eyes met. Then Aku looked away.

When she turned again Adoley stood in front of her. She shook out of fear and dropped the orange but Adoley caught it in time before it could fall. She didn’t say anything to her but started to eat the rest just then she heard her mother call out her name so turned and left eating hungrily into Aku’s orange.

 She watched on as Adoley walked away to take the money her mother pulled out from her father’s pocket. She went indoors as she heard her brother wailing.

Aku spent the next weekend in her grandmother’s house. She was up as early as 5:00am.The sun was barely up and the room was still dark. Aku stepped out and headed for the bathroom. She didn’t have to do anything since her grandmother got her cousins to do all the work before she got up. She sat on a stool in the compound house.

 Some of her cousins played ’Oware ’ but she didn’t want to go near them because she was the youngest and they always picked on her. She loved to read but they couldn’t afford the books that were sold. 

Her school which was around the ‘’Sempe We’ was a government school and they had been provided text books only that they were not allowed to take the books home. Her eyes caught a paper that was being blown away by the wind so she hurriedly went after it. At that moment she saw Adoley again.

 She was yelling at another girl who looked really frightened. The girl began to cry. She walked towards them. She didn’t know what she would say when she got close but that didn’t stop her. When she got there, her heart began to beat fast but she went ahead and stood in between them. 

She was only nine years and was quite small. She took in a deep breath and asked Adoley what the girl had done to her. Adoley sensed her fear and dragged her by her shirt closer. She began to shake and swallowed her saliva. Aku stammered and said

"What did she do to you….let her go now "Aku repeated trying to force back the tears.

 The girl moved back a few steps and stared at the both of them. She was surprised that somebody came to her aid. She had been in the area for seven months and had not made any friends yet. She wanted to run away but didn't want to leave the mysterious girl that came to help her out. 

Adoley was still holding onto Aku’s shirt but she also made no attempt to pull away.

Adoley was furious but there was something that she liked about the little girl. Like them, she also had no real friends because everyone knew her to be violent so feared her. She was like the local champion among the kids and mostly kept to herself.

 Her parents always quarreled so her mother moved away, leaving her with her alcoholic father. She learnt everything the hard way though she was only eleven. She picked on other kids and moved with the area boys. Adoley took whatever she wanted and sometimes fought to have it.

Aku couldn’t hold on to the tears anymore. She knew that she was in trouble.

 The tears came rolling down on her cheeks. She wiped them away with her hand and sobbed. Adoley let go of her and asked the other girl to pay her back the money by noon tomorrow and walked away briskly. Aku turned to look at the girl that she had helped. She had not seen her before so turned to leave.

 The girl runned after her and held her by the shoulders. She stopped and turned to look at her again but said nothing. The girl smiled and extended her hand out to her. Aku looked at the extended hand and looked away. The girl put the hand down but went on to introduce herself.

‘My name is Joana Obeng but my parents call me Akosua at home….I prefer to be called Adjeley’ Aku laughed when she heard her talk about wanting to be called by that name even though she was not from their tribe so she asked

‘Why would you want to be called that when you know that you are an Ashanti and not a Ga?’

TRINITY (SIX)

It was almost 4:00pm and the traffic was heavy. The public transport buses driving recklessly while some cars kept honking. She soon became weary. She always stayed at the office till it was very late so usually didn’t encounter any of this. They had been calling for showers all month, but so far it’s been dry. The cars were no longer moving and people were becoming impatient.

Aku was in no hurry to get home. She put on the radio in her car and changed the stations till she tuned in to an fm station playing cool music. She thought about her friends again and how they met. She met Adoley Lawson first at the ‘Salaha market’ where she stayed with her parents. It was a small market located close to Jamestown.

 The atmosphere was totally different as everyone there seemed to know everyone else. They lived in Jamestown for a while at their mother’s family house. The place was too small for the whole family so they moved away and got a place within the market. Houses there were built with wood and most had very rusted roofs.  

They couldn’t complain because they had nowhere to go to and moreover, they had peace in the single room that they were in. Her mother sold foodstuffs and the father was a fisherman. They were both hardworking. Being the eldest, Aku had to take care of her younger brother who was just three. Her parents were always out.

 She was nine then and went to a public school very close by. She would close at 12 noon then pick her brother up from the market take him home and stay indoors till the parents showed up very late in the evening. 

Her brother would be up most of the time because of the noise from the market ,women calling people to buy their stuffs. Children around those areas were sharp-tongued and disrespectful. They were always left alone to decide on whatever they wanted to do with their day because their parents were either irresponsible or were too busy. 

There was simply no reason for timidity in the area. Most of these children were either too poor to pay the meager fees that the government school charged or they had refused to go to the school. 

Those who were forced to go would either end up by the beach side or the Salaha market trying to make money for themselves even in their uniform. She was warned not to mingle with them since it would only bring her trouble.

 Aku had no friends then so would sit by their doorway and look on as the other children played. But that day even though the place was noisy as usual she managed to put him to sleep.                                              

She stepped out and closed the door gently behind her. She grabbed a chair and sat down and looked at some children playing ‘Ampe’ on the street. A ‘Trotro’ bus honked several times but they wouldn’t barge. The driver got down from the vehicle to drive them away himself but they sped off making faces at him. Aku laughed at the old man who went back to his vehicle insulting them.

 One girl who came from nowhere and was obviously stubborn stood in front of the vehicle and looked straight into the man’s face which made him angrier. He sparked the engine and started to move. She hit the bus with her small fist and shouted at him to stop the bus. He shouted her name and asked her to move away. Aku was bewildered.

‘Hey Adoley! I said move away…are you deaf? ‘He shouted in Ga a local dialect 

She didn’t know why the girl was doing that. She looked a little older than Aku who still had her eyes fixed on the two. The man got down but she wouldn’t move. He tried to push her but she was too quick and dodged his hand but came back again then he caught her by her skirt as if to hit her and she struggled then almost immediately a woman who also came from nowhere pushed him away violently.

 And they started to quarrel. Scenes like this were habitual so she rushed into the room and picked up an orange, came back to her seat and continued to look on.

TRINITY (FIVE)

She had finished with her tea and toasted bread. When her mother was out of sight, Mr. Tetteh told her

‘I don’t see anything wrong with going back to see your friends there, just be careful and come visit us anytime’

Aku was glad that her father didn’t see anything negative in her going back to have a look at a place she grew up. She knew the place must have developed by now and was anxious to see the changes.

 She stayed and chatted with her dad till noon. Her father inquired about where she would live and she in turn told him that she was not so sure. Mr. Tetteh suggested the ‘Wato hotel’. Aku chortled and said

‘Dad, that hotel has not been operating for a very long time?...I’m thinking about staying at the Novotel hotel, it’s quite close but if there is the chance that I could get to stay with either of my friends why not and besides I plan to be there for a just a week?

Mr. Tetteh then reminded her that they didn’t know that she was coming over so she shouldn’t count on that. He pleaded with her to visit a few places and people on his behalf if they were still there. He had grown too old and was more comfortable sitting and reading newspapers quietly.

 When Aku was ready to leave, her mother was still indoors and she wondered if she was still upset. She had to let her know that she was leaving else that would cause another trouble between them.

Aku met them preparing lunch. Mrs. Tetteh asked her to stay a little longer but she declined and told her she would visit them as soon as she could then hugged her and left. When she drove out of the house Aku thought about the fact that she didn’t have any food in her house.

 Eating lunch in her parent’s house sounded nice but it would also give her mother the chance to query her and she was not ready to answer any questions.

She stopped by a Chinese restaurant and ordered for sweet and sour pork sauce with fried rice. She tried to remember how growing up in Jamestown was like for her. She smiled and was soon lost in her thoughts. Her memories about the place were only centered on her two best friends.

They had made a wonderful trio and they had been feared then. She laughed out loud when she thought of some of the things that they did to the other children. She realized that people were staring at her because she was alone.

She pushed strands of her hair behind her ear,lookedaway and soon her food was served. She was not too hungry but she knew when she got into her house it would be impossible for her to get out again. She ate her food slowly.

Her BMW 7series was packed across the street because getting out from the restaurant was always difficult for her especially when it was lunch time for most workers and perhaps because she didn’t want to dent the car that her father got for her on her 29^th birthday.

 Aku wore a pencil skirt with a turtle neck top that revealed her curves. Her mother was a not a fun of weave-on so she grew up with that and was mostly seen with her permed hair. When she got up from her seat, a gentleman who was also on his way out held on to the seat so she could get out with ease.

She wanted to crack up on seeing his car after he offered to drive her home but offered her gratitude instead. They walked out together and he still insisted. Aku shook her head, turned down the offer then pointed at her car and walked past him. When she buckled her seat belt, she saw the man enter into his Volkswagen beetle car. His rickety car was almost falling apart.

He was ashamed that he had picked on the wrong girl. She seemed too simple to be rich. She drove off giggling and he caught up with her. She was stopped by the traffic light. Aku shot a glance at him. He has shaking his head to a hip-hop tune. He rolled down his glass and looked her way. Aku looked back but was indifferent. Then he said still shaking his head

‘Nice car…but money is not everything you know? ‘He was smiling now. Aku pretended not to have heard him and he began to repeat the comment again but she cut in

‘Point well taken…..try to say that again when you have money’ she put on her sun glasses and sped off so fast as the lights gave them a go ahead leaving him behind.

TRINITY (FOUR)

Mrs. Tetteh ignored him and asked Mansa to get them an extra tea cup so she could make her daughter breakfast since they were almost done. Mansa hurriedly went into the kitchen and grabbed a cup, washed it and made sure it was clean because she didn’t want Mrs. Tetteh to make a fuss out of getting her a dirty cup.

Mansa handed the cup over to Mrs. Tetteh who inspected it as usual and smiled. She had gotten use to Aku’s mother and knew things that put her off. Mansa watched as she poured the hot water from the flask and asked Aku if she was feeling okay since it was quite unusual to have her visit them on a Monday morning. Mansa left them alone and headed straight to the kitchen. 

Aku told them about the promotion and how her boss got her to leave her work for a while. Her mother didn’t seem so happy and Aku knew immediately where the conversation would be leading to so she giggled and asked

‘What were you old folks arguing about before I interrupted’ her father was naturally a quite person.

She knew her mother was definitely the one dragging the issues, because even when she got down from her car she could hear her voice out loud. Aku had a beautiful mother, in fact she looked more like her. What she didn’t like about her was the fact that she thought that she was always right. 

Nobody won any argument with her and surprisingly her father always gave up and mostly did things without telling his wife. Mrs. Tetteh was difficult to deal but he loved her dearly.

He looked at her face and smiled then took in a deep breath but before he could say anything, he heard her say

‘Can you believe that just one man was given such an amount?’ Aku who was enjoying her breakfast just raised her head and shot a glance at her father. Then she said again

‘I am talking about the Woyome saga…..how the president can allow such a huge amount of money to be given to a man is a mystery when it is not clear…’Mr. Tetteh cleared his throat then she stopped and chuckled then continued

‘What annoys me is the fact that I heard that we go for loans from other countries that does not even amount to the one that was given to the man!...where did we get that kind of money to pay then?’

‘What is your problem? ’He asked her. The president has said that he had no knowledge of that…let’s just give him the benefit of the doubt…and besides that man has been arrested ’he continued

‘I bet if you were given that kind of money you would have squandered it within a twinkle of an eye’ Aku smiled and shook her head as her father was right. Mrs. Tetteh loved money and then her father said again

‘That reminds me of the supposed 2012 Wassce questions circulating on the internet with possible answers…the gargantuan instrument used in measuring cedi in billions is a. Woyometer b.Bettymeter c.Duffourmeter’ Before Mrs. Tetteh could say anything, Aku cut in abruptly.

 ‘Please…can I eat my breakfast in peace……I know you both love this country and you are probably concerned but this is not the right time to talk about this…’she sigh in relief when it was obvious that they were both ready to drop the subject.mr Tetteh then asked about her plans for the two months that she would be spending at home so Aku told them about her plan to spent some time in Jamestown.

Mrs. Tetteh shook her head at the thought of going back there. She couldn’t keep her mouth shut so asked her the main reason why she was going there. For her there was no need to go there since it would only remind her of how poor they used to be. There was no point at all in her doing this. 

Mr. Tetteh said nothing as usual but only listened. When his wife asked him about his view on the matter he pretended not to have heard her and kept glancing through the daily newspaper he held in his hands.

‘My mind is made up…besides I have friends there I need to see ’Aku told her mother. Instead she got up to leave. Walked a few steps and said

’ By friends you mean those two girls….Adoley and Akosua who still don’t know what to do with their lives?’ Aku wanted to defend her friends but knew it would only end up in another argument so ignored her.