Forgive – Episode 4

FORGIVE EPISODE 4

© Jones Kwesi Tagbor

“Madam, you are the cause of your child’s problem. Why should you allow your child to be with this man for him to take care of?” the headmaster told my mother. My mom pitied herself and regretted her actions. “I will never forgive this man should something happen to my daughter.” She decided to teach Sir Louis a lesson that he will never forget.

God being so good, I regained my consciousness but the doctor said the herb had cause severe problems to my womb and kidney. He added that I needed to be coming for review every two months so that they help curb the problems with system if not I may not be able to give birth in the future. He said this to my mother in my presence and this scared me.

“Forgive have you seen what you’ve brought to yourself? At this tender age you know who a “man” is and even aborting a pregnancy. You will come and join me in the farm since that is what you want.” she said to me. I felt very bad because I didn’t plan to become a bad girl.

My mother informed my father about what was going on. My father became furious. “You decided to become the head of this house and do things in accordance with your will, why are you involving me now when a problem arose? You are always pampering this girl. Even if she goes wrong and I try correcting her, you would always want to devour me like your prey. You are even lucky she didn’t die else you would’ve paid for the consequences.” my father said angrily to my mother. “Ah! but why are you blaming me for what happened?”, my mum asked. “Haven’t I been warning you to stop sending this girl to that man’s place? The teacher is not married and your daughter being in her adolescent stage will definitely get attracted to this man. Anytime I say it, you start barking like a dog at me”, daddy responded. “hmm. Tell me what you have been doing as a father in this house? When was the last time you asked of how they manage to go to school? Do you even know how much they pay as school fees each term? Do you care about what they wear or eat? All you do is to chase after small girls and be spending on them instead of spending on your children. Stop blaming me and accept responsibilities of your children. Shameless man!” My mother yelled at him.

The last statement did not go down well with my father, He couldn’t take it as to why a woman should refer to him as shameless. In the process of their struggle, my daddy pushed my mother hard to the wall which made her fall down to the ground. She hit her head on the ground as she fell and blood began oozing out from her nose and mouth. She was also rushed and admitted to the same hospital I was admitted.

This was where my father got more furious with Sir. Louis. He regretted what he did to my mother and also dared not to forgive Louis.

The doctor equally called for the arrest of my father since he pushed my mother causing the worse to happen to my mother.

How can some men be so wicked? If your wife reminds you of your responsibilities as a man, should that lead you to beat her? I see men who beat their wife’s as irresponsible and must not even exist in society. Some of us, the women, also know how feeble we are but would always find trouble for ourselves. My fellow women, please even the Bible asks us to humble ourselves to our husbands and respect them. Regardless of how you are in control of the house, your husband remains your husband.

Since Sir. Louis happened to be a staff of the school and a member of the teacher’s union, they came to his defence. Even though they were not in support of what he did and he causing my abortion, they had in their policy to support any member who happens to be in a problem. The headmaster paid my mum and I a visit at the hospital and gave out some money for our treatment. He met my father and apologised on behalf of Sir. Louis. He begged him to withdraw the case from the court and bring it home for them to discuss. They equally gave him some money which was a contribution from the teachers to help their colleague. My father seeing the money decided to make the case a foolish case. He decided to withdraw the case against Sir. Louis from the police station but very unfortunate on his part, he was made to understand that he wasn’t the one who reported the case and moreover, the public has taken over the case. So it was no longer her wife against Louis but the public versus Louis. My father himself was battling with his charges before fighting this too. Sir. Louis was given a bail pending the court hearing.

To God be the glory, my mother regained her consciousness and in few days was discharged. My father was made to foot all her medical bills before one of my uncles also took him to court for causing damage to my mother.

My mother’s family members dared not to forgive my father which also caused my father to careless about my mother’s health any longer. Looking at how things were going, I decided to tell my mother what exactly went on between myself and Sir. Louis. I narrated everything from the first issue of breaking my virginity to the abortion. This charged my mother like a car battery. She equally furnished the police with this information and at the first court hearing, Sir. Louis pleaded not guilty to the charges so the case was adjourned to a later date which was two weeks after the first hearing.

When they came home, my mother ignorant of what contempt to court was due to no education, did not feel satisfied with the decision of the court adjourning the case. To her, there should be instant justice but the opposite was true. On evening, she went to Sir. Louis’ house to confront him causing an exchange of insults. My mother was not fully fit but would never spare anyone that stood her way. In the process of the exchange of words between them, my mother threatened Louis that she will teach him lesson of his life. Upon hearing that, Sir. Louis also threatened that my mother would die without anyone knowing the cause of her death. People around tried to stop them from exchanging words clearly heard the threat from both parties.

Back at home, that anger from the quarrel was still in my mother which my father also ignited again. She did not spare him too.

Hmm, early the next morning, my sister went to the bathroom to pick some soap to wash the dishes only for her to meet the greatest shock that has ever happened on earth. My mother was lying on the floor of the bathroom lifeless. My sister within picoseconds wailed at the loudest level of her voice for help.

My father was not in his room when she rushed to call him. People came around and at that time, it was too late for anything to happen. My mother was murdered in cold blood. Hmm the saddest moment of my life.

My father returned later in the afternoon only to hear that his wife was gone. He claimed he woke up and went to farm that morning and before he left, my mother was still in bed.

Now the big question. Who killed my mother. Actually I couldn’t control myself upon hearing the news, I wailed and wailed till I became unconscious. My world had come to an end, my world is a hell without my Mother.

Sir. Louis became the prime suspect for this crime simply because of what happened. No time was wasted before my father handed him to the police on a new charge. Sir. Louis cried his all out and said he knew nothing about the murder of my mother. Witnesses who saw and heard him threaten my mother made this information available to the police. This time around, no stone was left unturned. They arranged him for court and his charges were read to him.

“We therefore find you guilty for defilement, attempted murder of the thirteen years old girl, and murder of her mother. You are hereby sentenced to 35 years imprisonment with hard labour.” the judge pronounced.

My mother’s relatives were also suspecting my father for the murder of my mother.

My mother’s brother who happened to be the uncle took up the case against my father and he was also taken to court. My father was charged for molesting and attempted murder but was fined an amount of Ghc50,000.00 or face 10 years of imprisonment with hard labour.

My father needed to sell part of his land to pay for his charges.

I had been going for my bi-monthly review during this trying times in my life to get my system restored.

My mother’s funeral was organised four months after she passed on. She was buried to rest in peace. “hmm, mum sorry for whatever you went through.” But the fact remains that we were yet to know how my mother died. I will tell you later.

I always blame myself for all the mess that happened to my family. Life without mum became very challenging. The school accepted to offer me a full scholarship to attend the school for free till I complete my senior high school.

I managed to complete the Junior high school and senior High school successfully. After my school, one of my aunties who stays at Accra asked me to come and stay with her so that I can manage her shop as well. She sells provisions in a store located close to the University of Ghana city campus.

I happily went since, at least, that would make me take my mind away from my late mother. My senior sister went to learn a trade because there was no one to help us further our education.

We had a father but he didn’t care about us. For the first two months with my auntie, I enjoyed my stay since I was exposed to other interesting things and I was equally a novice to city life.

Back in the village, I didn’t attend church because no one introduced me to church or tried to influence me to attend. Moreover, we had only one church in the village during those days. So when I came to my auntie’s place, she made me to join her church. On my first day at the church, I started wondering if it was really a church or a fashion show centre. Everybody was displaying wealth through their dressing. The pastor himself had about four rings on his fingers and if you should see the dressing of some of the ladies, even a club girl’s dressing was better. I looked extremely odd among them.

That was where I met my friend Afya who happened to be a member of the choir. I love music, so I joined the choir. Anytime we closed from rehearsal, she would escort me to the house. She does tell me about city life and how I was to take care of myself. She said guys in the city are not to be trusted so I should be careful not to fall into their hands. I was only 19 years old.

Afya was studying a distance program from the university so she equally advised me to continue my education. She bought me gifts and dresses. My aunty didn’t believe it was my friend who was providing the things for me. To her, I was stealing her money so her behaviour changed towards me. Ei! I won’t lie to you. That house was hell to me and guess what?????

Let me keep that for the next episode.

To be continued

 

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