TRINITY (TWELVE)

She went back to bed and tried to fall asleep again but that didn’t work so just laid there and watched the ceiling, her thoughts blank.She had wanted to go and see them the next week. 

She knew Adoley was still there because she had kept contact with her until a few months ago when she misplaced her phone. She had left it in restaurant some time back as she rushed back to her office.

 

 Apparently, a waiter saw a man pick it up but that was after she had left but didn’t do anything since he thought that it was for him. She had no problem with the missing phone but lost all contacts including her best friend’s numbers. 

The last she heard about Adjeley from Adoley was that she had travelled to Togo to buy goods for her shops. They were all doing well in diverse ways.She closed the lid and went back to bed. She slept peacefully for the next four hours .

she had nothing to do at home so went out after she had her shower and breakfast. She drove around town for a while looking around at people generally and also the nice scenery Aku admired what had been done on the mallam-kasoa road.

 She contemplated on going over to see her parents and then again she thought that was a bad idea since she knew her mother would hassle her as usual to get a man in her life.

She drove to the korle beach and sat there for a while and had lunch. 

She just sat there and watched the sea. She had not done any of this in a while. Just taking a drive around town and thinking about nothing. Just then Adokwei’s thought flashed her mind. She took in a deep breath and called for the waiter. When he got closer, he smiled at her and gave her the bill.

 Aku was indifferent; she picked her wallet from her bag and gave it to him. He came back with her change but she asked that he took it. He smiled again and walked away briskly.

It was late afternoon. She walked to her car and sat in there for a while not knowing what to do or where to go. She was living in solitude. She couldn’t take it any longer so went to her parents’ house again. Her father was happy to receive her and she was somehow glad that her mother was not at home. 

She stayed with him as they chatted and laughed. They sat out for a while and when her mother came finally, she joined them at the summer hut. Aku chose to ignore the comments about her not getting any younger.

She had heard it over and over again and the best way to cope with the mother was to keep her mouth shut and pretend to be listening. She smiled occasionally at her mother and looked at Mr. Tetteh who looked away and picked a magazine.

 When what Aku referred to as the sermon was over, she got up and stretched and begged leave of them. Mrs. Tetteh shook her head as she watched her daughter walk away. 

It was getting late. Mr. Tetteh picked up the magazine and asked his wife to come with him into the room. They had grown a bit old but Mr. Tetteh still looked strong and his wife had not changed a bit. They held hands and walked into the hall. Mr. Tetteh whispered something to her ears and she giggled.

 They had managed to remain a happy family after forty years of marriage and they still loved each other dearly. The couple went to the dining table after they had watched the evening news. Mrs. Tetteh was peeved because she didn’t like to eat late.

She had left the cooking to Mansa because she had to attend to some business in town. And Mansa had taken too much time. She didn’t say anything to her but her attitude made Mansa a bit nervous. She served them and hurriedly left for the kitchen. Mr. Tetteh stole a glance at his wife whose eyes caught his. She smiled and he smiled back at her as they ate their meal quietly.

Aku was not in so much hurry to get home so she didn’t drive fast. When she got home, it was past eight and she took her shoes off and ambled along carrying them. When she got to her room, she dropped the shoes on the floor and laid on the bed but realized she had to shower before she felt asleep unknowingly.

Whiles in the shower she thought she heard her door bell rang. She dismissed the thought because she was not expecting any anybody. There was no way that somebody could show up in her house that late as it was almost nine.

 

When she came out she heard that her door banged noisily. She became annoyed and wondered who could be there. She went ahead to dress up and went into the kitchen to grab a glass of water.

TRINITY (ELEVEN)

The rushing water whooshed and whispered. Aku suddenly became uncomfortable. The wind billowed the dress that she wore. She started to say something but it was too late. Adjeley had disappeared into the sea. 

Her eyes opened wide as if to look for her. Everything happened so fast. She caught glimpse of Adjeley’s hands. She was struggling and splashing. They had never said anything about swimming to each other before. 

All they talked about was how nice it would be to go there without having to ask permission or have an older person follow them to watch their every move.She was scared but knew she had to do something really quick. 

Like a reflex action, she raced towards her friend whose mouth sunk below the water and reappeared again. Her head was low in the water and mouth at sea level.Adjeley’s eyes had become glassy and empty, unable to focus, she closed her eyes.

Aku didn’t know how to swim and it was so obvious that Adjeley was worst because she had not gone too deep. She was trying to swim in a particular direction but was not making headway. Aku started to look around for help.

 She was shivering and was even more scared. She looked at Adjeley’s way and found out that she was trying to roll over her back but appeared to be climbing an invisible ladder. She wouldn’t be able to drag her out even if she tried to save her. They could both end up drowning.

 

Adoley came from no way and jumped into the sea fully dressed. She printed through the water and kept her eyes on Adjeley as she headed straight for her. When she approached her, Adoley hooked her arms around over Adjeley’s chest and side stroked back to shore. 

She asked Adjeley to calm down and float on her back since panicking would make it impossible to help her and she could also be pulled into the water.

When they finally got onshore, they were both quivering. Aku took off her pullover and covered Adjeley with it.

 There was nothing she could do for Adoley who just laid there and stared at the girls. Aku looked at her and smiled. They both looked at Adjeley and they started to laugh out loud. Adjeley even though very cold also started to laugh with them not knowing the reason as to why they were doing it. 

Adjeley laughing made them laugh even louder. And they both laid flat on the beach side. When the laughter ceased, Adoley got up hastily and started to run away. They didn’t understand why she would leave abruptly. So shouted out their gratitude to her.

She didn’t respond, neither did she look back but instead stopped a girl who was leaving the beach. She said something to the girl and returned. She came back and sat beside them and they were astonished. 

Adjeley had been dried up by the cold wind. She thanked her again and out of curiosity asked her what she said to the girl. Apparently that girl was a known gossip. If she had left the beach, everybody would have heard Adjeley’s story which would have put her in trouble with her parents. So she went over to warn her from spreading her own version of the story or even letting anybody in on the incidence.

They got along easily as if they had been friends forever. They stayed there and chit chatted for a long while, laughed and shared jokes till Aku realized that her time had been far spent. They walked home together as Adoley escorted both girls home.

 When they got to Aku’s house however, her grandma was not too happy on seeing Adoley with her. She glared at her for a while and asked Aku to hurry inside.

‘’I hope she didn’t do anything to you’’ Her grandmother asked after Adoley walked away slowly. She nodded affirmatively and went inside to take a nap.

 

Aku woke up from her sleep. She was sweating profusely. Both the air condition and the fan were off. She smiled as she reminisced about how they became friends with Adoley. She sat on the bed for a little while, grabbed a tissue and wiped her face with it. Their life changed.

 Or that how life changed for her. She was no longer the timid girl everybody thought her to be. They were mischievous at times but she still kept her focus. She put on her bed side lamb and went to the kitchen to drink water. It was 3:00am in the morning. She walked bare footed and her feet felt the cold ground.

She pictured Adoley’s face and smiled to herself. They helped each other in any possible way they could. Adjeley and herself encouraged her to go back to school. They were not paying much in the government school and though she started, Adoley stopped mid way to learn hair dressing.

TRINITY (TEN)

It was very typical of Ghanaians to express their dissatisfaction in unison whenever the lights were put out. She stayed back and looked at the skies. There was a dazzling lineup of stars and the moon shone bright that night. She stayed out for another thirty minutes and went back into the house.

She didn’t bother to put off the refrigerator but sat on the couch in the hall. She put her hand in her pocket and pulled out her Samsung galaxy and played her favorite game ‘angry bird’ and eventually got tired so moved on to the play ‘jewels’. After a while, the phone alerted her that she had a low battery.

She immediately placed it on the center table and laid down. She wished the lights could be turned on again and as if God answered her wish, she heard her neighbors’ yell ’’eeeeiiiiiii’ .the lights were back.

She smiled at the thought that God still listened to her prayers especially since she couldn’t remember the last time she set foot in her church.She had made her work her main priority and though that was not enough, she couldn’t help it.

 she worked on Saturday and had made Sunday, her day of resting. There were times that she would take some work home in order to complete it before the weekdays and did that on Sundays.

When she finally got up to put on the television, the lights went off again and again she heard the chorus shouts of people. After ten minutes the lights came on and Aku hoped it would stay like that since she was bored to tears.

She just laid on the couch and forgot about the TV. Her attention was drawn to the phone when it beeped again. She had to charge it before it went off so even though she as feeling lazy to get up, she dragged herself from the couch and went to her bedroom where she had placed the charger.

She laid on the bed, pulled a pillow from one side and clamped onto it.Aku would at a point in time feel very lonely. Deep within her, she knew this was one of the reasons why she always kept herself busy with work and it’s been a while since she felt like that. She closed her eyes and tried to force herself to sleep hoping that it would keep her from thinking about how alone she was.

Adjeley had kept on and on that they go to the beach as the other children did. Being with her grandmother, Aku had the liberty to go everywhere except the beach and more so because her father might be there and he had warned her against coming there. But then again, it was a Tuesday and fishermen don’t go fishing that day.

 She had been there a few times but that was when she followed her mom who kept a close eye on her. She gave it a second thought and gave in to Adjeley who still stood in front of her pleading.

It was almost 3pm.and went into the house to tell her grandma that she was going out to play. Her grandmother as usual gave her the nod and asked that she returned home soon. Adjeley waited impatiently and when finally she came out and asked that they go, she was elated.

There were no fishermen there as expected. Only a handful of kids were playing in the sand. Nobody went near the sea since they all knew the myth about going to the beach on Tuesday. They could only play but none attempted to swim. Adjeley seemed overly excited and Aku didn’t know why.

 She told Aku that she wanted to swim but Aku cautioned her against it almost immediately. Adjeley as not too happy with what she said. She didn’t believe that something could happen to her if she went into the sea and Aku couldn’t give her any tangible reason as to why she could not swim. All Aku knew was that it was not good to go to the beach but didn’t know the main reason. Then Adjeley said

‘Ok…I won’t swim..i just want to feel the sea under my feet.’

She blurted out but didn’t wait for approval and hopped away. When Adjeley got closer she stood there on the shore and watched the sea waves .she admired it for a while. It was vast and unfathomable. She raised both hands as if to hug the sea breeze. The reflection of the sun on the sea was shimmer.

 Aku walked closer to her and before she knew it, Adjeley started to walk into the sea. Aku stood there for a while transfixed. A boat that had been left on the sea surged in the rising swell. She opened her mouth for close to thirty seconds and then she covered her mouth with both hands.