Adoley burst out laughing. They had remained close pals after so many
years and as the days went by, their friendship and love for each other grew in
spite of everything. They were best friends but more like sisters. For them it
was like a triangle, just the three of them against the world. When the
laughter seized, they left Adoley’s room and went into their separate rooms to
sleep.
The next day they all woke up refreshed. Akweley had earlier on
suggested that they go back to James town to check out the place once more.
They would also pay Akwei a surprise visit in his house. Each was determined to
face their problem squarely. Akweley had promised not to remain uptight. Adoley
made breakfast. They headed off straight to Akwei’s house.
He sat on a rickety chair on the porch and held a magazine. Adjeley was
indifferent. He kept fidgeting with the magazine as he spoke to them and
welcomed them to his home.
Apparently he had nothing to do as his children were
being taken care of. The house looked really messy. There was dust everywhere
especially on the nets that Adoley put on a frown and pushed Adjeley away from
her.
She fell on the tiles and was attached to the windows. The floor looked
like it had not been cleaned for months.
He apologized for not being able to send them inside as there was no
woman to take care of his house. They just watched him. Adjeley grabbed a bench
and they sat down. He asked them what brought them to him.
Adjeley was quick to
reply. She told him that she had come to the neighborhood and thought it wise
to see how he was faring like she cared. He expressed his gratitude and went on
and on about how happy he was to see her again, and hoped that she would come
back to him. The very idea made her sick to her stomach.
Adjeley didn’t say much to him. She just nodded at him and occasionally
shook her head when he told them about how happy they used to be. She had
already informed them about how much of a sweet talker he was.
When he tried to
sound funny, they would look at Adjeley and laugh in unison. Akwei felt proud
for he was doing quite well with entertaining his guests. He offered to buy
them drinks but Adjeley insisted that they wanted nothing. She however got him
a wine he really liked. She took it out of her bag and handed it over to him.
He wasted no time in opening the
bottle. He grabbed a cup from a table beside him and cleaned it up using his
hands. He blew air into it three times and poured the French wine into it. He
gulped down half of the content before he placed down the cup.
He smiled and thanked Adjeley for the wine. All he could afford now was
the local gin, akpeteshie and he was not ashamed to admit that. He knew Adjeley
was pretending to be nice because of the friends that came along. He didn’t
believe that they would just show up in his house without a purpose but as it
were, they were having a good conversation; only he was doing all the talking
whiles they giggled and watched him drink.
Whichever way he was glad he had
company. He didn’t realize what he had till he lost everything and had become
very lonely.
In a matter of minutes, Akwei had drunk half of the content. He emptied
the bottle and handed it over to Adoley and said ‘here, have a glug of the
wine’
but she declined and asked that they leave with the excuse of meeting up
with somebody. She was not too happy that they couldn’t do anything to punish
him. She had not reported him either so there was not much they could do.
When they left the house, Akweley burst out laughing. She sat in the
driver’s seat and sighed. They joined her in her car and Adjeley asked why she
laughed.
‘I didn’t believe that was you over there. I didn’t expect you to be
quiet….the normally talkative champion refused to utter a word but in sign
language’ she said amidst laughter and Adoley joined in.
Adjeley shook her head and smiled. If only they knew what she had done.
Akweley stopped and watched her through the rearview mirror. She had that
impish look and Akweley could sense that there was something she was not
telling them.
‘What did you do?’ she queried firmly
‘Nothing that would get us into serious trouble’ she replied and smiled
Adoley looked a bit confused. She turned and looked at Adjeley who sat
at the back. They both had their eyes on her now. She didn’t know what they
went on about but whatever it was, it was obvious that she was also involved
somehow. They waited for her to say something but she didn’t so Adoley asked
her again. She was becoming impatient.
‘Ok fine…I may have slipped a little something into the drink.’ Adjeley
finally said and their response came almost immediately in unison.
‘What! ? Are you crazy?’ and they gawped at each other and smiled.
