Zack barely ate his dinner that evening. He just pecked at it, and despite Kobby’s efforts to lighten him up with witty remarks, he just smiled wanly.

The strange thing was that he was carrying the strange black case with him, and even set it flat on the dining table, glancing at it constantly with a mixture of fear and longing that set Kuukuwaa’s heart beating with pity and love for him.

He was the first to push his plate aside and went away to the bathroom.

“I think he should be left alone for a while. He’s a man at the junction. May the gods guard him.”

“Yes, Pa,” Kobby responded sombrely.

“He left his briefcase, father. Can I send it to him?” Kuukuwaa asked.

Her father shook his head.

“I believe he left it intentionally, my dear. Let him be, you especially.”

Kuukuwaa nodded miserably.

Zack took a bath and changed into a long, black, flowing gown, given to him by Opanyin Amoah. They were all in the centre of the yard now.

Opanyin Amoah and his wife were lying side by side in their reclining chairs.

The Medicine Man had lit his pipe and puffed on it absentmindedly.

Kobby drew up a chair and sat close by, answering questions about his recent liaisons with Maame Yaa.

“Maame Yaa is a good girl, Kobby,” Obaapa said in a serious voice. “But she is studying to be a caterer. Are you sure she is not already seeing somebody in the city? I don’t want your heart broken.”

“She’s not, mother. She told me she has not entered into any relationship, and I do believe her.”

“And what are you going to support this relationship with, my son?” Opanyin asked calmly. “You’ve refused to farm, you’ve refused to learn my work and take over when I’m no more. You don’t work, my dear. So, what are you going to do? Will you be a house husband, per chance?”

Kuukuwaa now approached with a stool and Zack’s black case.

“That’s what I’ve come to speak to you about, Pa,” Kobby replied, his voice serious. “Maame is also interested in me, and I promised her I’ll work. I’ll use the new skills I’m learning from Zack. I will also like to be your apprentice, Pa.”

The three of them looked at him with shock.

This is the first time Kobby had shown any remote interest in what his father did.

“Now that is a very good decision, my son. I’ll be proud to teach you all I know. It’s not so strange, though. All through history, men have been known to do strange things for women.”

They were all laughing gently, a balm in the tepid tension they were all going through when Zack emerged from his room and walked towards them.

Kobby and Kuukuwaa both got to their feet, but it was Kobby who offered his high-backed chair to Zack.

He took it with murmured thanks and sat down.

He looked gravely at them.

“The name on the side of the briefcase is Zack Larbi,” he stated.

There was silence for a while.

The Medicine Man removed his pipe and stared at the dying embers in the bowl reflectively. He looked up at Zack, and his eyes were worried.

“Glad to meet you, Zack Larbi. But, is that all you remember?” Opanyin asked.

“I remember men chasing me with guns, whilst I was holding that briefcase. But that is all.”

“Then it means there is something very important in that briefcase, maybe, something someone was prepared to kill you for.”

“Maybe you stole that briefcase, and its owner was trying to get it back!” Kobby declared with a goofy grin.

“I can’t possibly steal a briefcase that has my name on the side now, can I?” Zack asked coldly.

“Maybe you put your name on it later,” Kobby replied with a giggle. “After you successfully stole it.”

The Medicine Man knocked out the ashes from his pipe and looked at Zack.

“That briefcase seems to be locked down pretty harshly. It has some beeping sounds and lights and keys.”

“I remember how to open it,” Zack said calmly.

“Then you should open it!” Opanyin declared.

“But I’m afraid to open it,” Zack said with a slight frown on his handsome face. “I’m afraid to find anything that will make me lose Kuks.”

This statement from Zack brought tears to Kuukuwaa’s eyes immediately. Trembling, unsteadily, she approached Zack and saw the fear in his eyes, the passionate pain that was tearing him apart, and knew the same feelings were tearing her apart.

She placed her unsteady hand on his shoulder.

“I see you, Zack Larbi.”

“And I see you, Kuks… and I’m afraid. I can’t afford to lose you.”

She closed the gap between them and put her arms around his neck, and he drew her closer, holding her very tightly, and she could feel him shivering.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen to us, my love. But I believe I’ve worshipped God relatively well, apart from the times I got so passionate with you, but I believe He has forgiven me for that. I don’t think God will allow anything bad to happen to me. I believe in the love we share. Please, if it will help, open the briefcase.”

Zack shut his eyes tightly and squeezed her hard. “I love you, Kuks. I love you so hard!”

“Love you harder, my precious Zack.”

When it seemed that they could not take it anymore and that a second later their lips were going to meet in a passionate kiss, Kobby spoke slowly near them.

“There are elders here. You two better cut off that bullshit!”

Startled, they pulled apart.

Kuukuwaa turned away suddenly, wiped tears from her face, and walked quickly away.

Zack bent his head and a moment later Kuukuwaa returned with the briefcase.

Without a word, Zack took the briefcase.

He placed it on the table and long-pressed the luminous face of the glass panel.

The lights blinked rapidly, the beeping sounds increasing.

There was a command on the panel requesting fingerprint verification.

Zack deftly placed the tips of all five fingers on his left hand on the panel.

The screen turned green, and a moment later it blinked with a different command, and this time around Zack placed the fingertips of his right hand.

Again, the lights blinked rapidly and the screen changed to blue, requesting eye verification.

Zack bent over the panel with his right eye directly over the panel for an ocular scan.

The case beeped and the panel turned to white, and a moment later there were two small clicks and a whirring sound.

“Damn! Ei! How did you do all that? How did you remember all that?” Kobby asked with shock.

Zack looked up slowly with a tortured face.

“I don’t know. I just don’t know. I just remember the coding!”

He reached out and slowly opened the briefcase.

Inside were a lot of metal and plastic parts, strange tools, cablings, screws, and fittings.

There was also a huge brown envelope.

Zack reached for the envelope and opened it.

First, he pulled out a Compact Disc in its case, two pen drives, and a sheaf of white papers with diagrams and text on it.

Zack began to read the sheets and looked at the diagrams, and his eyes opened fractionally with sudden shock, and Kuukuwaa was afraid instantly.

“What is it, my love?”

Zack looked at her with eyes wide with excitement.

“This! All this! It is amazing, if it is what I think it is!”

He brought out a smaller envelope, this one blue in colour, and opened it.

Inside were crisp cedi notes, and a huge, golden cheque book in the name of Zack Larbi. He stared at the money, and at the bank cheque book.

The money was in fifty-cedi bundles of four.

The money inside that briefcase was worth twenty thousand cedis!

He opened the cheque book and found that the first leaf had been signed, the signature itself a beautiful flourish of an expression, but the cheque was cancelled.

The amount on the cancelled cheque was quite substantial, ten thousand, cedis made for cash.

Tucked into one corner of the case was a golden expensive-looking pen.

Zack, hand trembling a little, took the pen and put the brown envelope down.

He took a deep breath, and then he uncapped the pen and, holding it in his left hand, quickly and effortlessly scribbled three signatures on the back of the brown envelope.

They matched in every detail with the signature on the cheque book.

Kuukuwaa’s hands tremble as she stood beside him and dropped an arm across his shoulders.

He looked up at her and saw her sudden despair, fear, and terror.

Then, he got to his feet suddenly and faced her.

He took her hands and looked deeply into her eyes which were swimming with unshed tears. She was shattered, obviously.

“Oh, Zack!”

“What is it, my love? Why do you look so shattered?”

“It is your signature, Zack! You can write a ten-thousand-cedi cheque? And you have twenty thousand cedis cash in your briefcase? And all that complex briefcase with fingerprint and eye scanners, that elaborate device in the briefcase! I’m so scared, Zack! You’re no ordinary man! You’re a man of means, and I’m sure when you regain your memory, I’ll not mean anything to you!”

Without warning, Zack swept her into his arms and kisses her, slowly and tenderly, with his heart in it.

Her tears ran into their lips, a balm that sealed the love within their hearts.

He finally lifted his head and looked into her eyes.

“Kuks, do you believe that what exists between us is true?”

“Yes, yes, my love! This is true. This is forever!” she replied passionately.

“I believe so too, and I do believe that if previously I had felt for someone the way I feel for you now, there is just no way I would’ve fallen in love with you. I don’t know what all of this mean, but I want you to know that no matter what happens, this heart that beats in my chest is all yours!”

“Oh, Zack! My breath, my air! Come, take a walk with me. It is a lovely moon, my love!”

It was as if they had forgotten the rest of them. As they turned away, Kobby suddenly held Zack’s arm.

“Hey, rasta, hold on, hold on! Can I have a few crisps?” Kobby asked with a sheepish smile. “Maame Yaa has to go back to the city and I have to see her off, you know. I can do with a little loan…”

“Kobby!” Kuukuwaa cried with narrowed eyes.

“Shut up, little girl!” Kobby said. “Just having a chat with my friend, and possibly my future brother-in-law!”

Zack smiled, picked two bundles of money and gave one to the Medicine Man, but the man refused to take it.

“I am not your father, Kobby. You should take money from your father. Sir, will that pay for my bill?”

“You came here a stranger, Zack Larbi,” Opanyin Amoah said gently. “You’re now a son, and probably more. I do not charge you. You owe me nothing.”

Zack then dropped to one knee and raised the money.

“Then, perhaps, you will accept this as a gift offer for your daughter, who has captured my heart, and for your son, who has been a brother to me, please? And from me, as a son, to a father he appreciates above all else?”

There were tears in the Medicine Man’s eyes as he took the money.

“Thank you, my son!”

Zack stood up and walked towards the entrance, taking Kuukuwaa’s hand.

The Medicine Man stared after them with a shake of the head and looked into the skies.

“What is it, my dear?” Obaapa asked with concern.

“Did you see that? He just took the money without worrying, and he hurried off without closing and locking his case with still a lot of money in it!” the Medicine Man said with wonder. “My dear, that boy, unconsciously, has no hunger for money. That tells me he is used to money. He is a wealthy man, dear, and I’m so scared for my daughter!”

“Hey, don’t worry, Pops! He loves my sister to bits! Now, can I have my share of that money?”

“You lazy cocoon! How much do you need?” his father asked with a smile.

“And I’m taking my share too, old man!” Obaapa said with a laugh.

All three of them began to laugh then.

When they were out of sight, Zack proffered the money to Kuukuwaa.

“For you, and for me, my love.”

Kuukuwaa did not take the money.

Instead, she pushed Zack against a mango tree, drew his head down, and kissed him with all her soul. And, standing in the shadows where they cannot see him, was the man Kofi Amo with a nasty smile on his face as he melted into the shadows!

The Prince needed to hear this!

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