Not very long ago, but I think it is long enough, when wisdom was defined by the number of grey hairs on people’s head and height was determined by how long or short your hand was, there was a boy and a girl. The physical appearances were not given by the story teller.
The story teller also made a mistake of not providing their names but I believe those involved will identify themselves if they ever pick this piece to read.
If they were working in a government institution, the government would have termed them as Ghost Names on Pay Roll, but fortunately for the government, they were students of Osagyefo M.A. School in the land of Osei Tutu II. As to whether they had records in the school, I do not know that one either but there is one thing i am very sure of; they left the school with school papers.
But from the way the story teller told the story we can manufacture a local name like ‘form no y3’fe’ for the girl because the story teller kept repeating it in describing the girl and ‘MPH‘ for the boy. I think the story teller hated the boy. OK let’s continue…
The girl was ‘character attractive‘ and the boy was ‘sexily attractive‘. Don’t ask me what I mean by that. This description was given by the story teller. Ok let me try and explain.. that is if i am right. I think the girl had a character that attracted lot of people to her especially the opposite sex; and the boy, well, I don’t know if he walked naked in school, may be that is why ‘sexily attractive’ was used to define him. I heard a rumor that he knew lots of girls. Not the biblical meaning of KNEW…. please o.. yooo !
The girl was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, I mean known… It was what the story teller told me. He said, ‘ she was the beautiful wo… where were we.’ and continued. Probably he did not want me to go chasing the girl.
Ok, let us continue… eei where were we? Aha… did you ever hear the rumor that a woman came from Venus? if you did, then I think she was the woman the story-teller was writing about.
But there was a problem about the girl. According to the story-teller, her definition of LOVE was strange and I learnt in her life the ONLY person she really had a feeling for was called Fianyo. How did I get the name of the guy? Well I think the story-teller was secretly in love with this maiden and was very Jealous of almost all the guys’ names he mentioned in the story, names like Otto, Jimmy, Evetter. All these names were pronounced with some pain and annoyance in his voice. I wonder why the name of the boy in the story wasn’t revealed by the story teller. As I said earlier on, I think he hated the boy.
The story-teller made it difficult for me to understand the story because he was ‘stupefied with a memory blow’. He will stop for a while, talk about the girl like he was in heaven and later attacked the guy like he was the cousin of Osama, who to the US government, everybody relating to Osama is considered as an enemy of the state. I remember interrupting him when he was talking about the boy, then all of a sudden he rose and screamed ‘HE SHOULD BE HANGED!‘. Seriously he hated the guy.
The boy on the other hand had a funny way of life . He was living in a world of his own. He believed in his own thought and everything else was BULLSHIT to him. I did not use that word oo! It was what the story-teller told me. I was trying to get a good word for it. How do we call it in english…. synonym, but I couldn’t and later realized that a bull’s shit has no offensive odor as compared to a hen’s shit.
Aha, as I was saying, the boy had a funny way of life. He lived a carefree life and really had time for girls. To the ‘passer by‘, he was a PLAYER, to the ‘cross carriers‘ he had A LOT OF SISTERS. His life style made him not to commit himself to a ‘Dump Cell’. Again, I didn’t say this.
There was a rumor that a girl called River broke his heart, though he claims he did not get a heart break but rather a headache and he got aspirin for it. Hmmmm who are we to say that wasn’t true.
You are wondering where the story is turning to right? I am so sorry it has to be written this way because I believe if you were there listening to the story, you would not have understood because of the way the story-teller was narrating the story. Please bear with me as I try to narrate it as best as possible.
Ok let’s go on. There was a pressure group union among the cross carriers who went on various demonstration. Their demonstrations were very funny indeed but it got people crying sometimes. Why am I saying this? According to the story teller, anytime they went on demonstrations, people would sit quietly, watch them, laugh when necessary, cry when they are emotional and CLAP for them after their demonstrations. How possible one may ask and I will say A NEW DEMOCRACY. Another funny thing was that there were lot of these pressure unions in school and they are still there.
And this is where the two officially met, because they both became members of a particular pressure group. And that was the ‘turning point’ of the story.
The opposite sex had a magnetic force of attraction towards the girl, how do we call it in science, Law of Motion? Law of Attract…. never mind. Believe me the ice cream seller and the wine maker became very rich within 36 moon rotation on earth. Why was the story teller saying this? Because boys never visited her without a bucket of Ice Cream and a bottle of wine…
Pulses of men increased from normal to abnormal when she passed by men. ‘God, she was so beautiful’, the story teller said as he rose and ‘rose’ again.Despite her involvement in various demonstrations and her beauty, she was academically good. The was a rumor that she got 7/10 in her final exams, the highest score in her class.
With the boy, he had a way of drawing attention from girls. If you ask me, I think he should have been a a girl because ‘na )kyer3 ne ho’. Sorry for the local language used, I can’t get the English phrase for that expression. Someone who does not care about anything in life, how can you ask me about his academic performance? When I asked the story teller about the boy’s academic life, he looked at me and just said he was OK Aaa!
The day they first met, the pressure group which they had joined had gathered at a place called canteen (food joint). Probably they wanted people to think they were going to buy food instead of people thinking they were going to plan their next demonstration for the following Sunday.
The guy was in blue shirt with a jean trousers with Johnny Blaze loco at the back pocket. Do you have any idea how that logo looks like? If not, please find out, may be it will help you figure the boy I am telling you about. This description stains in the girl’s memory for life because the story teller told me the girl gave him that description and said she would never forget.
At the meeting, the boy was very quiet, playing the role of Mr. Perfect, don’t know if you have seen the movie before. He acted shy. Actually he is shy (a rumor I heard). The girl was as usual surrounded by all the good and well to do guys who could afford a bucket of ice cream. The boy just stood there at a corner watching and listening to what was going on. It was his first meeting with these demonstrators though he had been part of the largest demonstration group in school.
Ok let me skip all the unnecessary part and let me tell you about the part where the boy saw the girl. It goes like this… he rolled his eyes through the crowd gathered and their eyes met.. He froze, she smiled. He fell in love, she did not (not sure if she also did). You know something, there comes a time in one’s life when someone can make you feel all alive again, as if you started living all over again. You smiled there… (got you hehe). Now do not deny it, who made you feel like that? you are smiling again,huh… Ok let’s ‘boss’ on…
He wanted to play it cool. You know how the ‘Mr – Know – it – all’ does when he meets a fresh lady. Yeah he went on the path of Mr know it all. He did not want to mess this one up. Wait! what was wrong with him, with a guy of his nature loving a girl was out of the equation… did he not learn anything from the past?
Then my question comes in; WHY DO PEOPLE FALL IN LOVE AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LOVE SOMEONE?.
The girl saw him to be someone who needed to be taken care of. Not necessarily love him but help him figure out what he wanted. She saw this the very moment their eyes met… To the story teller God revealed it to her when she saw him. “Why does God reveal things like this to women?”, the story teller fumed. And as you know already, she was good.
The boy’s ego would not allow him to approach the girl with his idea of love, probably thinking he had no chance and the resources to maintain the ‘Bui Dam Project’, and besides he had no advantage to play in his favor. There is an economic statement, ‘You do not waste resources on a commodity you have any comparative advantage of‘ (a free tip for the guys) and the boy believed in this statement.
Questions ran through his head ‘ what if she was already going out?’, ‘what if she won’t respond to his love?’, ‘what if she was in love with someone else?’ These thoughts ran through his head and if the thoughts were athletes, they would be tired by now.
Have you ever heard or thought about this, ‘if you are in love with someone and the someone is in love with another one?‘ If you ask me, I will say if this happens to you ‘be you, a time will come the someone will realize that you are not just someone but you are the ONE’. Very deep huh… think about it.
He killed the thoughts, the story teller said with a devilish smile and continued with a frown.. “he should have killed it forever… ”
The boy had lots of questions to answer. He was not even sure if was ready to go out (not as to stay inside his room but to date a girl, again not as to write a calendar, you know what i mean right?). Actually he had lot of options but the problem was with the choice. But this feeling inside concerning this particular girl was so different from the norm. He thought about her, dreamed about her. Not the kind of dreams guys have about ladies to get ‘Night Loses’. ‘Are you sure?’, I asked the story teller
The girl saw the boy in a funny manner. To her, he had issues and to the boy his biggest issue was the girl. Fortunately for the boy, their sleeping places were very close and he needed not to pick a ‘taxi’ to see her. They always walk to their rooms together after their demonstrations and through this they became good friends… not like Romeo and Juliet, but David and Goliath… ops my bad, I mean David and Samson… (whisper: the story teller has not been reading his Bible, because I think he meant to say David and Jonathan)
Lot of guys kept pressuring the girl, foreigners, ministers, pastors, lecturers, teachers, doctors you just name all the important male professions you know, this made the boy feel very ‘inferior’ like ‘broni wawu‘ clothing compared to original Gucci clothing. It made him to believe that he had no chance at all and he was even lucky to befriend such an ‘ant queen surrounded by soldier ants’… There is this saying ‘Obiara ndi ne lane mu‘, you know if you have ever driven on the Tema Motorway, you will know what I am talking about. We have the fast lane for speeding cars and the slow lane for slower-moving cars and if a fast or a slow car interchanged lanes, an accident may occur. So to prevent accidents every body should drive in his/her lane (a caution for drivers). The boy was on the slower lane and the girl was on the fast lane with fast cars chasing after her. How could he drive on a fast lane with his Pony car.. (no offense to Pony Mechanic Company, I did not say this).
Personally I think a truck pusher can date Miss Ghana,… I lie?
I sometimes wonder the meaning of the word Sex…………………what is it?
Is it gender or is copulation? please think about this for me right…. I will be very happy if you tell me the meaning because I don’t believe what the story teller told me….
“PFOUAGH EURK UGHHH PFOUAGH! O this cough and this weather… where is my handkerchief?”… this story teller koraa
Their friendship strengthened as the sand ran through the hour glass (is it a nice comparison?). They were like a brother and a sister. (I am not sure if the boy saw the girl to be a sister?). They studied together, watched TV together, played together and everybody saw them as such – A BROTHER AND A SISTER, till one day….. BRB
AHAA, till one day, they decided to talk. Actually the girl wanted to talk to her BEST FRIEND about something concerning her life. ‘Nanka 3b3k) goal de3 anka 3nk) corner’… the story teller said and continued… It was a normal Saturday, no school work, no demonstration and the atmosphere was good for two lovers to take a stroll. The girl walked to the boy’s room with a look on her face, a look that even the blind will know that there was something bothering her.
‘What is the problem?‘ the boy asked.
‘will you go for a walk with me?‘ the girl replied. Why not, who wouldn’t go for a walk with such a girl. To some guys it is a flex to walk with a beautiful lady. May be he would take this golden opportunity to tell her how he feels about her. They were in grade two then. Grade one had passed with pretence and he couldn’t afford waiting for another year still pretending.
They walked through the school, words barely spoken. The girl looked confused and the boy did not know how to start a casual dating conversation. When guys turned to looked at them, the boy would quickly brushed his hand on the girls shoulder to make them feel they were in his position. ‘ABUFUS3M’ the story teller added.
Hey it was not a silent walk, when was the ‘talking and listening and accepting’ going to start?. Do you know what annoys me most? When there is a favor, they say ‘ladies first‘ but when there is a danger, they say ‘3tuo to’a esi barima bo‘. Ok let’s continue… The boy wanted to go first, he started, ‘there is something…
‘have you ever fallen in love before?’. the girl cut in…
What do you think his response should be? Your guess is as good as mine… I do not think he was really prepared for a walk. Everything when planned ends successfully. This statement is not always true. The question hit him hard on the face like he was fighting Joe Frazier in a boxing ring. His face answered the question because there was a pitiful look on his face, the look that men get when they are in love but his mouth denied… His lips became heavy, should he say ‘I have and it is with you?’.
‘We are humans and we have our feelings and everyone on this earth is entitled to this peculiar feeling called being in love; even the Pope I think falls in love sometimes….’ he began lecturing. What a jerk (jerk meaning jolting, bouncing, or thrusting motions) one may ask. ‘Score make we go a, u go kick go OVER’. He continued lecturing till finally he landed on YES I HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE BEFORE AND IT WAS… ‘ (YOU’. the ‘YOU’ was said in his thought)
‘You know, there is something I want to tell you about..” the girl came in again probably she was tired of his lectures. She continued… ‘there is this guy proposing to me right, we have been friends for a while. He completed the school two years ago. He is now in the North and he is called Kenny. He’s been a good friend indeed. And he is saying he loves me, and from the look of things I know he loves me.
What a walk. He should have stayed in his room. So she called him to tell him this? What would you have done if you were in the guys shoes with the same feet size? ‘Has she got no feelings for me?’ the boy thought as he continued his worthless walk with the girl… ‘what is the point in this? Let’s go back to our rooms, he had a match to watch, homeworks to do’ he wanted so much to tell the girl. How was he going to tell her, they should walk back to their rooms?…. walking will make things worse because there would be enough time for him to hear all these nonsense. ‘picking a taxi’ would be nice… again no way, he wasn’t going to make another sacrifice for nothing because he had made lots of worthless sacrifices. To pick a taxi and pay the fare… hmmmm.. they would walk… and he would pretend to be listening.
This is so annoying. When you love someone and the person has no idea that you love him or her and the person comes to you to tell you about his/her love feelings about someone else… IT IS SO SO ANNOYING.
The story teller enjoyed the way the boy was being emotionally hurt. He had smiles all over when he was narrating this part of the story.
He paused and looked at his time now and then, feeling very uncomfortable, he held her hand and said softly and sadly, ‘let’s sit down there’, directing the place with his eyes.
They sat there quietly, the boy showing some fake smiles… the girl continued. ‘I am not sure I love him’
‘You don’t’, the boy thought.
‘but I am very sure he loves me’ she said
‘that is stupid, how can you be sure’.. He thought.
‘But my girl friends tell me that it is better for a guy to love you more than you love him, he cares about me, he gives me all the attention I need, he is there for me and I think he defines love, he is the type of guy every girl will dream of being with’… the girl spoke softly
‘this is so stupid, she just described me and the sad part is he is not even here so how can he be there for her?’ the boy thought again… he did not like the way the conversation was turning into. He was really hurt. All the TIME he had spent with her, the sacrifices he’s made for her, the extreme care he had given to her… and he was not recognized… This world is not fair at all.
‘What is love?’ the girl asked.
‘Love is wotrii so ne woapampa so, nkwasiasem’ he wanted to tell her this but he said ‘Love is….
“what do you think love is? the storry-teller asked …
LOVE, A full topic on its own, if I start talking about this, I might end up telling my story instead of what the story teller told me. “It is making me see things clearer …lol” I answered.
This was so crazy, why should a girl put a guy of his caliber in such an emotional torture. To add salt to the injury, she was asking the guy’s definition of love… if I were the boy, nanka obe hunu.
‘Love is wotrii so ne woapampa so, nkwasiasem’ he wanted to tell her this but he said ‘Love is God‘ and smiled, ‘no it is the other way round, God is Love’.
‘O come on, we all know God is love, I am talking about the other love, abi you know?’ the girl smiled and poked the boy. This nearly made him leave in anger. If you ask me, I think he wept (the type of tears only the heart sheds and it is invisible to the human eye).
He swallowed hard (on his invisible tears) to make way for his almost lost voice and smiled (fake smile of course), ‘yeah I know I am just kidding’.
But you know what, there is always a little truth behind “JUST KIDDING”…… anytime it is said.
He continued, ‘Love is what God taught us. Love is ONE big umbrella, that which all other forms of love fall under. So if you do not understand God’s Love, you will never understand any other type or form of love’…
I couldn’t stop laughing at this part of the story, you see what love can turn people into? Our honorable Know-it-all is now a priest. That is why love is such a scary movie oo… ‘you are laughing, you have not seen nothing yet. It can even turn wise men into ‘fools’, the story teller added.
Let’s continue:… the boy lectured on love like he had returned from the University of Love. He looked the girl in the eye and said ‘the love you want me to define is ‘WHAT IS LEFT AFTER BEING IN LOVE IS OVER’, that is what I call love.’
‘Come again’ I asked the story teller. ‘eei he said love is what is left after being in love is over’ the story teller repeated.
The girl looked a bit confused. I was confused myself when I heard this but upon further thought I realized it was an absolute truth (absolute by my standard). Why am I saying this? You see, when you are in love, you are NATURALLY NICE. You call the person you are in love with without thinking about the increment in fuel prices and how it has affected every other cost, you stay up late in the night and sleep at 5am (that is the time free night calls end right? And mostly , guys are the victims of the Cupid effect) and wake up at 6am to go to school or work, you buy her chocolate, ice cream and all she asks for and sometimes even when you don’t have the resources to cater for her needs, you go for an IMF loan (how? – I do not know). And when it is her birthday or val’s day, boy YOU ARE SOO DEAD. Men do greater things when this effect (being in love) affects them. They grow from men to supermen…. That is being in love.
BUT when you have dated for a while, or married and you are no more doing the things you do when you are in love. i.e. you are no more buying her the nice gifts, you are no more staying up in the night to wait for her call, you tell her the truth about your financial status (when you are ‘broke’ you tell her you are broke and she understands) and you still have the same affection, love, care, patience and are able to tolerate his or her negatives, THAT IS LOVE.
YOU get it now? well let’s us continue:
‘love requires close and careful attention by each to the other, it requires courage (which I do not have’ said this in his thought) and love is when I lo…’ he paused and his heart’s tears nearly showed up in his eyes. He took his eyes off the girl, rose up and said let’s us go back to the room.
let me summerise the story now
The walk was one to remember. Thirty minutes walk was like one and forever years walk with her. He kept silent fearing his speech may turn into tears. (but as fear is allowed to rule our hearts, we see only those things in our own lives that need protecting). She talked more, liking the idea that she was being listened to.
The story teller paused as he observed that I was feeling sad for the boy. He placed his hands on my shoulder and said, “You know what? Never rush in love for it never runs out. Let love be the one to knock at your door so that by the time you start to fall, you will know that your feeling is for sure. Love takes you to where you belong.”
Eei this story teller and love issues, hmmmmm!
He walked the girl to her room, as he turned to leave, she hugged him and whispered in his left ear, ‘never in my life have I known someone as special as you are. Goodnight my number one best friend’.
‘Goodnight (and forever’ said this in his mind)’. He turned to leave and tears rolled down his eyes.
This guy is a sissy… ah barima nsu.
You know something, we have 3 categories of boys in school. The first is what I call the Interpol. They ‘protect’ and ‘guard’ the already – going-out- girls whose partners are not around. (i.e. the ladies in long distance relationships). They will be there for the girls, actually playing the role of dating for the ‘away’ partners, sex excluded though. They make sure the girls are not lonely in anyway and ignoring the idea that they have to find their own girlfriends. Lots of guys are victims of this.
The second is the Shoe Shiners. They ‘polish’ the girls, train them to be good dating materials, show the the TLC formula, delay proposing to them, wait till someone comes to snatch them from them just like how the hawk snatches chickens from their mothers. This category really hurts a lot.
The last group is the Contract Workers. They are generally the good guys and the gentlemen. They care about every female that comes their way, they will sacrifice the time and effort to make them happy, help them any time they call to them for help, the treat every lady as a weaker vessels. The ‘world’ normally refer to them as ‘Gyemi Gyemi ‘.
After studying these categories, I did not know where to place our honorable boy. May be Shoe shine fits him. He ‘polished’ for someone to ‘wear’.
Ok let us continue… His goodnight was actually goodbye. He was closing a chapter. A chapter he would never open in his life again. He laid on his bed, looking at the ceiling as if answers to the questions running through his head were written in black on white. He blinked and tears followed. ‘She is gone and gone forever’ he sighed and closed his eyes..
‘Aww what a sad story. The end of poor man’s love life’. I said…
‘Hey! Wait! have you watched the Zingaro advert on TV on teenage, premarital sex thing?’ the story teller said.
‘Yes I have’
‘And what did you learn from it?” the story teller continued.
‘IT PAYS TO WAIT’ I said.
‘and it truly pays to wait’ the story teller said.
After two years of this sorrowful ordeal on the boy’s side, the boy had problems loving a lady. He closed the chapter though but he wanted to see ‘the girl’ in all the ladies that came his way but he couldn’t. They were still friends and to the girl, he was still her best friend.
She was going out now, he was sampling girls now. She was not really happy in the relationship and she did not understand her reasons why she wasn’t happy in the relationship. She was confused and believed things would work out well later but the later was not coming. There are a lot of people like her in their relationships, I lie? The boy saw it. She would go to the boy to tell her problems she was facing in the relationship hoping to get advice from him, her best friend but she was not getting them. He hated discussing relationship issues with her and I think you know why. They could talk about everything but not her relationship.
This went on for quiet a long time till one evening…. (O boy I am tired of typing… I need a secretary….)
… They were preparing for their final exams. They went to study in one of their study rooms as usual, the girl brought up her worries again. The boy was not ready for her this time and an argument ensured between them. They argued disturbing the rest of the student body who had come there to study. They were actually creating a scene. He became shy and kept quiet hoping the lady will stop, but hey… the strength of a women depends on the many words that can come out of her mouth in a second.
‘You have issues!’ She screamed.
He was silent
‘You are crazy!!’ she yelled.
Still no words from him. This was very irritating to the girl indeed. In anger she pushed his books on the floor. That was it. He felt so embarrassed. He got up, people looking at him, patiently waiting for his response. He looked at the girl, bit his lips and walked out of the study room.
She now realized the spectators watching the show. She felt ashamed and started picking his books back then she saw the sheet, the pink sheet, the pink paper sheet, the sheet that was… (ENOUGH’ I screamed at the story teller). ok
She took it and read the content in the Pink sheet (I think the story teller has a copy of the pink sheet) and this was the content… “If I were her boyfriend, I will cherish her, love her, protect her, I will see to her needs first before I think of mine. I will pray she makes it in life, I will listen to her and understand her feelings, I will respect her and treat her like a queen. I will tell her she is the beautiful woman I have ever seen but since I am not her boyfriend and you are, Please do that for her… Please”
She was shocked, tears filled her eyes. She folded the paper, packed their books in their bags. The room was dead silent now, all eyes on her, she took her bag and his, went out of the the room and ran after him.
he was confused now, why tears in her eyes, what has he done to her? he asked himself.
‘Let’s go’ she said to him
now his turn to go nuts “Are you crazy?!” he screamed at her.
‘please let’s go, I can’t study anymore’
‘Did I do something wrong” he wondered.
“no, just want to be alone in my room’
“Ok you are acting wield now” he looked surprise
“Let us GO!!!” she busted out the words.
‘ok ok ok’ not another scene. he thought wise.
They walked in silence, words hardly spoken. If there is one thing he lacked, it was comforting a weeping woman. They got to her room, not saying much he turned to leave. She ran back to him place her arms around him, turned his head to her level and placed her lips which tasted like salt because of her tears on his surprised mouth… “You should have told me earlier… YOU ARE THE ONE I LOVE”and handed the paper to him.
He loved her and she loved him and they lived happily ever after… I mean they are still living happily… the ever after is not there yet… may be latter on…
Dedicated to Her…
(C) Derrick Ofori Donkor 2011.. edited in Feb 2012
All Rights Reserved….
I took my nine millimeter from my hidden items in my wardrobe. Today everything ends. I banged the phone when I finished talking to her. She is my only sister and no one touches her without touching me. I took a good look at my raged face again at the standing mirror. I was sweating in the midst of cold and my heart was beating faster than usual. She always begged me not to do anything ‘stupid’. I did not know what she meant by doing something stupid but whatever she meant by that, today was going to be the ‘BADDEST’ day ever. I wore my black shirt on my skinny blue jeans. I choose black probably because evil goes with black. Should this be called evil, NO WAY! I was 100 or like 99 percent sure this wasn’t evil. This was a payback of the sins of a fellow human being, and I believed in the Mosaic Law “AN EYE FOR AN EYE”.
Cars hooted their horns, the traffic build up was too much. Everything just made me more angry. Technology is killing us now, look at the number of cars on our roads now. Why so many cars on the street? Why is everybody trying to buy a car? Where are the horses we used to ride? I think that one is far better than these vehicles we have on our road depleting the ozone layer. I never thought of this till this day. The government should reduce the number of cars on the road. It should be every government policy to implement this. I hit my hands on the steering wheel; move my hands up and down. I tried tuning the radio channels to get a good music or message to at least keep me calm from the traffic but not from what I was about to do. I went through the channels over and over again, nothing of interest or nice music to calm an angry soul.
The mention of love made her turn her side to the other side. She closed the album and placed it back at where she took it. I wondered if I has said something to hurt her. Why, has she got no family or what? I wondered. “Are you alright?”
MY STORY MODE 