Reset…
AARON ANSAH-AGYEMAN
RESET
Weekend Story
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The Author
CHAPTER 4
When Adobea finished narrating her tale everybody looked at her with consternation, except her father who sat quietly in his wheelchair. He had retired from the police force and two years later had suffered a spine complication that had restricted his life to a wheelchair.
“And you brought such a person to our house?” Kofi Gyan asked fiercely. “What’s wrong with that head of yours sometimes, huh? This is kidnapping, or man-napping, whatever, to say the least! What’s the matter with you? Why didn’t you let him go to the police station?”
“It is not kidnapping,” Opanyin Asare, her father, said softly. “He was a man in need, and your sister helped him, Kofi. She’s always been kind, so you should see it for what it is.”
“But what she did was risky and absolutely unacceptable!” Grace said with a modicum of humiliation as she recalled how she had reacted. “Anything could have happened!”
“I agree Adobea shouldn’t have left him unattended seeing how he is,” Maame Fosuaa, her mother, said. “But she has explained that she thought Kofi was inside the room. It is late, let’s go back to bed. Tomorrow we’ll decide what to do.”
“There’s nothing to decide!” Kofi Gyan said hotly. “Tomorrow that imbecile leaves this house!”
“Kofi, shut up!” Opanyin cried. “Having challenges doesn’t make you an imbecile! It can happen to anybody!”
“Oh, Dad, you know I’m not referring to you!” Kofi Gyan said, irritated. “But seriously we can’t keep him here! That condition he is in requires an adult to be around him the whole day! He can’t take care of himself with all his foolishness! Tomorrow I’ll take him to the nearest police station and let them take care of him.”
“Kofi Gyan, Kofi Gyan!” Opanyin said, getting more agitated. “It can happen to anybody! If it had been your son, wouldn’t you have liked him to find a temporary home?”
“I don’t have a son!” Kofi Gyan shouted, his frustrations getting the better of him.
“And whose fault is that, hm?” Opayin shot back, unfazed. “I’ve told you to give it to your wife in the hot afternoons! That’s how I got you, son! One hot afternoon in February I caught your mother and –”
“Papa!” Grace said, alarmed. “Enough!”
“Baby boys are not made depending on the time of day!” Kofi retorted. “Depends on the chromosomes of the fertilized egg!”
“Stop that chromo-chromo nonsense!” Opanyin shouted. “Always chroms always chroms! Catch your wife and release in the afternoons!”
“It is late, please,” Maame Fosuaa said, suppressing an amused smile. “Let’s sleep. Tomorrow we talk about the visitor!”
“What visitor?” Kofi Gyan asked. “He’s a fool, a big fool! And we don’t have enough money to take care of a grown, retarded moron! Tomorrow he goes!”
“You were rejected again, weren’t you?” Opanyin asked suddenly. “Your papers were thrown out again, isn’t it?”
“They’re not papers!” Kofi Gyan screamed. “They’re architectural designs, Dad, designs!”
“Oh, let me think!” Opanyin said. “When people go to the universities to become doctors and presidents and lawyers, you spent all that money to draw lines on papers! You couldn’t even learn how to draw lines well, and you’re always rejected!”
“Papa, that’s enough!” Grace said suddenly, alarmed. “Please!”
“And you too!” Opanyin retorted. “Look at your buttocks like police barracks! Catch your husband and sit on him in the afternoon and get a son! Your daughter is almost twelve years old and you still don’t have a son. Ask Mama how we used to shatabam in the afternoons before that drawing of a son was born!”
“Ohooo, Papa Oluman!” Maame Fosuaa said. “You’re going too far all because your sleep was disturbed! Let’s go back to bed!”
She grabbed his wheelchair and began to push him toward their bedroom.
“But I want to see the young man!” Opanyin cried. “I want to get some of the boys to look into his case.”
“Tomorrow, you canterkerous old man!” Maame Fosuaa said as she continued to push the wheelchair.
When they were alone Kofi Gyan looked at Adobea furiously.
“Sometimes I wonder about you, Adobea!” he said, exasperated. “You should have known better, huh? He can’t stay here, okay? Tomorrow we’ll find help for him! We can’t feed him!”
Adobea sighed miserably, and forced herself to remain calm.
“I hear you, Kofi,” she said. “Sorry for the inconvenience again.”
“Now go and get that fool out of my room!” Kofi Gyan said angrily.
Adobea looked at him for a while, and then she picked up the cloth she had draped on the armchairs and walked to Kofi’s bedroom.
The young man was sleeping on his back on the bed now, still naked, and once again his handsome features struck Adobea anew. Such a fine specimen of male pride reduced to such pitiful levels touched her heart.
She draped the cloth around his waist and shook him until he opened his eyes sleepily.
“What do you want?” he asked sleepily.
“Come to the living-room, please,” she said.
She had expected him to fight over it, but surprisingly he got off the bed and walked lethargically with her to the living-room.
Kofi Gyan gave the young man a scathing look as he took his wife’s arm and led her inside. The young man once again fell on the student mattress and a moment later was fast asleep.
Adobea heard the lock turning in the door leading to Kofi Gyan’s bedroom, and she chuckled despite her exasperation. She was sure all the doors would be locked this night. She had wanted to show the young man to the guest washroom, but he was asleep again.
Adobea eventually went to the bedroom with the resolve to check up on him as often as she could.
***
Adobea woke up early as usual.
Thankfully, it was a Saturday and she did not have to go to work.
She was a secretary at a security firm. The salary was not good, but at least it kept her going until a better offer came along.
She usually washed with Grace on Saturday mornings.
She checked up on the young man and found him still asleep, so she went outside where Grace was already up.
By six o’clock the washing was done and dried.
Adobea came inside to take a bath and prepared banku and fried fish for breakfast.
The rest of the house was coming awake now. Her parents were up with her mother getting ready to open her store. Her niece, Naomi, was up and could be heard chatting with the young man in the living room.
Adobea went back to the living room and took his arm.
“Oh, where are you taking Mr. Nobody?” Naomi asked with pouted lips. “I like him. We were chatting.”
“Mr. Nobody?” Adobea asked with a slight, amused smile. “Is that his name now?”
“He can’t remember his name!” Naomi said. “So he agreed that I should call him Mr. Nobody.”
“But he’s somebody,” Adobea said with smile. “So, let’s find a day for him, hm? What day do you like best, my young friend?”
The young man yawned mightily, and then he farted strongly with a booming sound that made Naomi burst into loud laughter.
“Forget it,” Adobea said with disgust and shoved him gently ahead of her to show him the guest washroom.
She wondered worriedly if he would be able to take care of his excretal needs, and surprisingly he used the washroom perfectly and even managed to take a bath.
She sent him to her room to use her pomade and deodorant, and when she proffered his clothing back to him, he dropped the towel around his waist and stood naked in her presence.
Adobea gasped as his object plopped out and turned her back to him swiftly.
“Would you stop doing that?” she asked in an agitated voice.
“What?” he asked.
“Dropping your clothes at the least opportunity!”
“I dropped the towel, not clothes,” he said calmly as he pulled on his boxers.
“I mean, stop getting naked in front of people like that!” she said. “It is considered rude!”
“Okay,” he said and pulled on his jeans.
Adobea went to the dining-room with him.
Everybody else was sitting down except Kofi Gyan, who had emerged from the bedroom and was looking around for his architectural drawings which he dropped in the living-room the previous night.
Her father preferred porridge in the mornings whilst Naomi preferred hot chocolate. The rest were eating banku and fish. Adobea asked the young man what he wanted and he opted for the banku.
Adobea served two plates of the meal. She put a plate in front of him and took a plate for herself.
The young man began to eat.
“Ah, you’re so handsome, my son,” Maame Fosuaa said.
“I don’t think I’m your son,” the young man said immediately, and Naomi giggled herself silly.
“Indeed, a handsome dude,” Opanyin said as he bit into his bread.
“Jesus!” Kofi screamed loudly as he stood in the hall in his white shorts, his face so thunderstruck that they all looked at him.
“Honey, what is it?” Grace asked with sudden concern as she quickly washed her hand and stood up.
Kofi was shaking, his face apoplectic as he stared at the big sheet of design in his hands. Fearing the worse, Adobea stopped eating and waited with apprehension.
Grace had rushed to her husband’s side, and was staring at the design in his hands. She also gasped with horror and looked up at the young man who was still sitting and eating without a care.
“You fooooool!” Kofi Gyan screamed with rage. “You bloody baaaastarrrrd! What have you done? What the hell have you done?”
He suddenly rushed at the table, pushing his wife aside as she tried to restrain him.
Adobea got to her feet to stop him, but he pushed her aside too and rounded up on the young man.
“Daddy!” Naomi shouted with pain and fear as Kofi suddenly slapped the young man hard!
The ball of banku in the man’s mouth flew out as he shouted with pain and clamped a hand to his cheek where he had been struck.
“Kofi Gyan!” Opanyin screamed. “Have you gone crazy?”
“Oh, Kofi!” Maame Fosuaa cried and got to her feet. “What on earth could warrant this behaviour?”
The young man was on his feet and ran to Adobea, who held him tightly with tears in her eyes as she glared furiously at her brother.
“Kofi, he’s just a kid!” Adobea cried angrily. “Why did you strike him?”
“He destroyed my drawings!” Kofi cried defensively as he put the sheet down on the dining-table. “I spent almost six months designing that! And he spoilt it! Used red ink to cancel it…everything!”
They all looked at the sheet on the table.
Indeed, it was cancelled horribly with red ink!
Adobea looked at the young man with horrified eyes.
“Why did you do that?” she asked gently. “That was a very important sheet, my dear. You should not have done that.”
She wiped the tears from the young man’s eyes, and noted with sick feeling that Kofi Gyan had hit him so hard that his fingers were imprinted on the man’s cheeks.
“I didn’t spoil it!” the young man said in a quavering voice. “I woke up and…looked at it. The plot size…it was small, and he put the elevator inside the building. That made the building small and not so nice. So I gave him more space…I just designed it with the elevator globes outside the building, you see, so that there’ll be more space inside and the elevators outside and lighted would make it more beautiful.”
Suddenly, Kofi Gyan gasped as he looked at the young man with stunned eyes.
“My God!” he whispered and touched his lips with trembling fingers. “Hey…awwww…what did you say? Please, repeat that?”
He took a step toward the young man, who moved away frantically.
“Keep away from me, you kakai man!” he screamed and tried to flee but Adobea held him tightly.
“It’s okay, please, he won’t hit you again,” she said painfully.
“He will!” the young said. “I don’t like him at all! I drew a new one for him! That’s why I cancelled the old one!”
“Drew a new one?” Adobea asked. “Where is it?”
“On the drawing board, over there!” he said, pointing at the board Kofi used for drawing his architectural designs.
Kofi Gyan was walking like a zombie as he moved back to the living-room.
He stood gazing at the clean sheet on the board and the incredible design on the board!
The young man had used the same measured plot of land and delivered an incredible masterpiece! It was planned down to precise dots, the elevator design and position outside the building a touch of class and elegance.
And as he watched, his lips trembled, and tears came back to his eyes as he turned and looked at the young man who still had tears in his eyes.
Grace walked slowly to her husband’s side and stared at what the man had done.
“Is it good?” she asked softly.
“It…it…it is t-the be-best thing I’ve ever seen,” he whispered.
He turned and walked toward the young man who pushed violently against a stunned Adobea.
“He’s coming!” the young man cried. “Yeeeee! The kakai man is coming again!”
“No, no, no, please, please, forgive me, forgive, please!” Kofi Gyan said as tears of remorse fell down his cheeks, and he held out his hands placatingly. “Please, I’m sorry. I’ve been so frustrated lately, and yesterday my design was rejected…I am so sorry! What you’ve done…it is amazing!”
“See your fucking head!” Opanyin said with furious eyes. “Now you see your shame, huh? Aboa!”
“I don’t like you at all!” the young man said and looked down at Adobea. “Please, take me out of here. I want to go to that police station place. I don’t like it here with the kakai man.”
“Please, please!” Kofi said and rushed forward desperately, causing the young man to scream shrilly and jump on the chair nearest to him.
“Keep him away!” he screamed. “Keep the kakai man away!”
Kofi stopped, alarmed by the young man’s highly agitated behaviour.
“Stay away from him, aboa!” Opanyin shouted.
Adobea went to the young man and spoke gently to him until he calmed down a bit and got down from the chair, but he was still trembling so badly that she felt like weeping herself. He was obviously traumatic.
Opanyin wheeled his chair and moved next to the young man and spoke to him calmly. Naomi joined too whilst Kofi Gyan and his wife stayed in the living-room.
Eventually, they were able to convince him to sit down again at the table. Opanyin challenged him to see who would finish eating first, and then the young man began to smile and laugh as he ate his food again.
When Adobea looked at Kofi Gyan, she saw that he was still staring at the young man as if he had seen an angel.
Kofi Gyan sat down on the chair, took out his phone, and called a number. After several attempts, the call was picked.
Kofi spoke hesitantly.
“Hello, Mr. Boateng. This is Kofi Gyan, one of the architects at the interview yesterday. I don’t know if you’ve gotten a successful applicant, but last night my assistant drew a new one. He decided to put the elevator banks outside the building in globes. Quite exciting. I can send images to you via WhatsApp right now if you’re interested.”
He listened for a while, and then his face lit up with sudden pleasure.
He stood up and rushed to the drawing on the board.
“He’s excited!” he shouted with a smile. “He wants to see the images!”
Everybody was still as Kofi took pictures of the young man’s drawings.
The young man was oblivious to what was happening, and presently asked for more fish.
Absent-mindedly, Adobea put her fish which she had barely touched on his plate.
“Did you lick it?” the young man asked suspiciously. “You haven’t put saliva on it, have you?”
“No, I haven’t licked it!” Adobea said, indignant, and Naomi and Opanyin laughed.
Maame Fosuaa had PMF Vaseline in her hand, and she gently rubbed it on the inflamed cheek of the young man.
And that was when Kofi Gyan screamed suddenly and fell on his knees.
“Yes, yes, yes, yeeeeeeeeesssss!” he screamed with tears raining down his cheeks. “They want it! They want this design! Oh, Lord! Oh, thank you, thank you, my brother!”
He got to his feet and rushed toward the young man with tears of pleasure on his face as he continued to scream happily.
The young man took one look at the onrushing Kofi Gyan, and then he got to his feet and bolted from the room at top speed, out the main door and then fled crazily out of the house!
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