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.