Dial - Season 2 - Episode 91

4 years ago

Dial - Season 2 - Episode 91

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It was late afternoon when we reached my mansion.

I had taken public transport for the second time, and it had been exhilarating. A few weeks ago it would have been absolutely fractious and irksome to consider anything like that.

We had stopped over briefly at Wowo where I had put a bouquet on the new beautiful grave of Akos and bid her farewell. Her father and her family had been with me, and we had all shed some tears.

I asked Nana b0s0mba if he could get one of the canoe operators for me, and he readily provided his own canoe. My transformation had shocked everyone indeed, and they now looked at me with reverence. Whilst crossing the lake, the canoe operator looked at me and spoke.

“That beautiful woman,” he said in heavily-accented Fante language. “She waited long time.”
I scowled painfully at him.
“Which beautiful woman?” I asked hollowly.
“The one that came with you,” the man said with a nod. “Everybody said she came with you. She stayed in the lodge up the lake. Every day she came to the lake side. Abena, her name, right? She stayed exactly one month, always coming to the lake side. Then she left. We didn’t see her again.”
My heart flipped with pain.

Oh, Abena, Abena Adobea, Maa Abena!
She had stayed with pain, hoping that I would make a choice and come back to her, no doubt. But after a month of not hearing from me, she had drawn the reasonable conclusion: she had assumed that I had married Dede, and stayed in Wowo.
What heartbreak she might have felt!
What excruciating pain!

Back in my mansion, I quickly packed another bag, took some more money, and then I entered my Pappy’s room again. For the first time since his death I opened up the windows and slid the giant blinds, filling the room with a blast of glorious sunlight.
“I found life, Pappy,” I said as I stood in the middle of the room. “Real great life. And I found a great woman too. We were lonely and not so happy in this great mansion. I guess we were wrong to think we didn’t need anybody. I’m going to fill this house with people and children. These walls are going to echo with laughter and happiness, my Pappy. I’ll see you soon, so goodbye for now.”

Attah Panyin didn’t want to leave. He wanted to stay overnight; so impressed was he with the classic and luxurious room I showed him to. However, the sun was not going to set on my resolve to see my Maa Abena and assure her that our life was back on course.

I whisked Attah Panyin out into a powerful black Hummer with silver lines, and we shot off into the gathering dusk. It was a long, arduous journey, and it was quite dark by the time we entered Yao Biko Krom.
I drove in slowly, pleased with how beautiful the town had expanded and become so beautiful in the two months I had been away. Brian and Kuuku had worked absolute magic. The patches of greenery, the well-spaced beautiful houses, the clean environment, the recreational areas, the interlinked roads and paths…everything was beautiful.
And they had extended electricity too, and everything was lit-up really beautifully. There were many villagers milling around in various states of activity as I drove through, and they stared at the Hummer with wide disbelieving eyes, but I didn’t stop. I was in too much of a hurry to see my sweet Adobea.
I parked the car in front of Maame Ntiriwaa’s house, jumped down and raced up the stairs. The front door was not locked, and I opened it and pushed my way through.
Maame Ntiriwaa was sitting in her nice living-room, wearing a long, white, opaque nightie. She looked up in alarm when I rushed in, and then she screamed, bounced to her feet and grabbed a stout iron bar lying at her side and then moved toward me with the iron bar raised.

“Hey, hey, Maame!” I said, raising my hands defensively.
For a moment, I had forgotten how changed I was, and rushing blindly into her room had scared her witless.

She came to a stop and scowled, obviously finding something familiar about me.
“It is me, Maame!” I said with a happy smile.

“Yao?” she whispered, and the iron bar dropped from her hands as she moved toward me with trembling legs. “Yao Biko?”
“Yes, yes, you witch!” I said with a broad smile.
She screamed and flew into my arms, and held me tightly as she spoke rapidly in her language, singing and shouting prayers.