Divorcing Tony…

AARON ANSAH-AGYEMAN

DIVORCING TONY

EPISODE 7

Liz recounted how she met Tony in school, and how they had just been friends until love blossomed between them at a time she had already been in a relationship with Frank Nsiah.

“It was not something I could control, though God knows I tried,” Liz said in a sad voice. “In the end, there was no need putting it off any longer, and so I broke Frank’s heart by telling him I was in love with Tony.”

 

She paused briefly and raised her trembling hand to her lips as she looked briefly at Frank with tears in her eyes.

“Sorry for putting you through this painful process, Liz,” Hassan Moshi said in a gentle voice. “If it hurts you that badly, you can skip the lengthy descriptions and give us the facts as they pertain to your eventual marriage.”

“Wait a second, Counsel,” Judge Darteh said quickly. “I do appreciate the trauma Liz is obviously going through, but in such cases I need to be apprised with as much details as possible because my judgement will be largely based on facts as they happened. So, if Liz is willing, I’ll plead with her to give me as much details as possible.”

 

“Yes, Your Honour,” Hassan said and turned to Liz once more. “What happened after that? Especially, how did your family relate to Mr. Tony Siaw when you informed them you loved him?”

Liz gave a shuddering sigh.

“It was a really difficult moment for us all, and it really hurt me to see how my love for Tony hurt the whole family,” she continued. “You see, Frank’s family and mine had been friends for a very long time, and it was very difficult putting that cherished friendship in distress.”

“But you had to do it because you loved Tony,” Hassan said, his voice understanding.

“I had to sacrifice everything for him,” Liz said with a nod, her voice unsteady.

Once again there were murmurs of sympathy from the spectators, and veiled insults were thrown at that horrible Tony.

 

“And was there strong opposition to your intention to marry Tony from your family?” Hassan prodded.

“Oh, yes, initially,” Liz said sadly. “It was very tough because they all liked and loved Frank. They saw Tony as an opportunist, I must confess, because he came from a poor background, and my people were rich. My auntie Grace, however, was a great help because she liked Tony. He used to come to our house often, but eventually stopped altogether.”

Judge Darteh raised her eyebrows at that.

“Tony stopped coming to your house?” Hassan asked. “Why was that?”

 

“Well, about three months before our marriage, it was my father’s birthday, and so we were at the birthday party, and there were a lot of friends and family members around. Some of the guests were stranded at the bus station, so my father asked Tony if he could help drive the guests from the station to the house. Afterwards, Tony went around bringing in some supplies, and other things. I believe my parents kept him occupied with… chores, and it made him… I don’t know, made him feel unimportant, I guess.”

There were louder murmurs from the audience now, and a few titters too which made the judge smile before hitting her gavel to bring silence.

“Now, let me get this straight,” Hassan said after looking at Tony for a length of time. “It was your father’s birthday party. Tony obviously felt he was being used as a chauffeur, or servant, what we have locally termed ‘boy-boy’, and so he refused to enter your family house again?”

 

Liz nodded.

“Yes, and for the ten years we were married, he never once came to our house again despite my pleadings and tears. It really hurt me going to my family house alone. He even warned me against taking our children to the family house, and it was always a war just sending our kids to visit their grandparents.”

“Now that is hard to comprehend,” Hassan said with shock on his face. “Please, let’s be a little clear on that. Are you saying that because of one instance – just one instance – when your father ‘demeaned’ him, according to his perception, Mr. Tony Siaw refused to come to your family house again, and even banned his little children from visiting their grandparents, aunties, uncles, cousins?”

 

Liz nodded and wiped a tear from her cheek.

“Yes, that’s it, and that has been mostly what we have fought about all through the years.”

Judge Darteh looked over at the stoic expression on Tony’s face and shook her head sadly.

“Now, let’s move on,” Hassan said with a sombre look. “Just for the sake of –”

“No, hold on a minute, Counsel,” the judge said quickly, her eyes still on Tony. “Don’t you have anything to say, Mr. Siaw? I expected to hear your buzzer at some point during the discourse, you know. You can’t tell me you let your personal ego fester for quite so long, and even dared to extend it to your children. Is that how this really happened?”

Tony looked back at her impassively.

 

“Yeah,” he said calmly. “Can we please continue and get this over with?”

There was a huge clamouring in the spectators, voices that were angry and condemning, and the judge rapped her gavel several times to restore order.

“Can I continue, Your Honour?” Hassan queried.

The judge raised a hand at him to pause without looking at him. She sighed and linked her hands under her chin, obviously exasperated. She spoke in a serious voice.

 

“Listen, Mr. Tony Siaw, and I’ll say this for the very last time. Obviously, you have decided that your marriage is not worth salvaging, and you want to move on with your life. And believe me, you’re doing a very good job at convincing me of that fact. But, you’re not doing this just for the divorce bit, no sir. You’re doing this for the chance to be in the lives of your children, and I must tell you that so far you have scored zero on the charts, and I will not hesitate – repeat, I will not hesitate – to cut you off from your children if you continue to present me with that insolent attitude, do you understand? I will ask you a final time, do you have a rebuttal for what your wife has said so far?”

 

Tony Siaw leaned back in his seat and crossed his hands across his chest.

“He’s mad,” someone said clearly in the audience, and this prompted a huge bellow of different laughs from the gallery. It was obvious the judge agreed in a way with this assertion because she hid a smile behind her hand and nodded at Tony Siaw.

“I’m waiting for you, Mr. Siaw,” she said in a calmer voice. “And don’t forget you’re still under oath.”

 

“Okay, fine,” Tony said calmly. “First off, her aunt Grace was the only one who became my friend because many years ago, she rebelled against her grandmother’s choice of a husband, and married the man she loved. It was a taboo in her family, especially when her husband died five years into her marriage, and she did not get any children from that marriage. She was an example of disobedience, and each time that witch of a mother would rub it in her face, and in my bloody face!”

“I object, Your Honour!” Hassan cried, chagrined, and his voice was drowned out by the angry voices from the crowd as people got to their feet with fury!

“Mr. Tony Siaw!” the judge screamed. “My goodness! What’s wrong with you?”

 

“Do you want me to speak or not?” Tony leaned forward and said, his face furious. “Because when I refuse to speak, you threaten me, and when I’m speaking you and your damn audience shout at me! What the fuck am I supposed to do?”

“You’re supposed to be decorous in language and manner!” the Judge shouted, but she was taken aback by Tony’s sudden fury.

“Decorous?” Tony hissed furiously, and his voice was amplified by the speakers, effectively cutting off the retorts from the crowd. “I will be decorous, Judge, yes, I can be decorous! But that’s the truth! Grace found an ally in me! She was the one who convinced Liz to go ahead and marry me, the man she loved, and not Frank, the man approved by her family! And do you know why I stopped going to that damn house?”

 

“No, I don’t,” the judge said coldly. “But I do have a feeling that you’re going to tell me, Mr. Siaw.”

“You’re damn right I’m going to tell you!” Tony said, absolutely livid with fury now. “I sweat a lot, got something to do with my genetics, you see. I sweat easily so I don’t like wearing suits because they make me sweat so badly! That birthday party for her father was a formal affair, you know! Suits and tuxedos and ties and cuff links, like a damn presidential gig. I went in my decent African print attire, black trousers and shoes. Liz was not happy because her dad’s birthdays had always been formal. I told her I sweat a lot in suit, and I had always felt claustrophobic in heat. It was a sweltering March afternoon, very hot. I just couldn’t be in a suit. I would have died from the heat. And moreover, I believed I was old enough to choose my own attire to a frigging birthday party!”

 

“I object, Your Honour!” Hassan cried.

“Oh, shove your damn objection crap up your butthole, you fake koobi lawyer!” Tony screamed at him, and there was great silence in the room because the man was on his feet, and it was obvious he was close to getting violent.

“Oh!” Hassan Moshie said with total shock. “But where from that? Oh!”

He was so shocked that he left his mouth hanging open.

 

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DIVORCING TONY :: CHAPTER 6

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