Liberian Literary Magazine January Issue 0115
an excuse to get the old folks to send Tene to see me.
A week later, Tene and Kema arrived in Suehn. They came on a crowded Monroviato-Bopolu passenger truck. I lived in a quarter far removed from the main road, so that they had a hard time finding me.
Luckily, Tene came across a friend who knew where to locate me. When the girls saw me way off, they rushed to the veranda where I was sitting. Kema reached me first. She gave me a big hug.“ What is the matter, Gortokai?” She asked when she looked at my wounded toe.
“ I nearly lost it, Kema,” I said.
“ Gortokai, it is God who helped you. We must thank him.” Tene sympathizes.“ Never mind, you bear?”
“ I suppose you girls never heard of my misfortune?”“ Gortokai, I swear on the Sande Society, we heard of it in Bendabli only yesterday.” Kema said.“ The person you gave the message to did not reach our way but went to Monrovia instead. Some people from Bendabli happened to be in Monrovia two days ago selling farina and heard of your misfortune. When they went back to the village they told the old folks. This is how we got it.”
“ For true,” I said,“ times are changing. It ' s hard to depend on people these days.” Kema admitted however, of receiving the eight dollars I sent, immediately upon my arrival in Suehn.
Tene was generous in bringing me gifts- country bread with peanuts and sugar and plenty of fried chicken, and I loved her for this. We put everything away pending the arrival of my landlady who was expected at any moment from the farm where she was harvesting rice.
Before the girls could finish telling me all the important news from the village, the landlady arrived and I introduced the girls to her. She at once showed admiration for Tene.“ I can see why Gortokai has been killing himself to make enough money to pay your dowry.”
The guest room which adjoined mine, was put in order for the girls. When she got through making up the bed, Juku, the little girl whom my landlady was rearing, said,“ Kai, tell your strangers the room is ready.”
The landlady herself inspected the preparations before ushering the girls into the room.“ Tene and Kema, make yourselves at home, while I go and get something to eat. I know you must be hungry, coming all the way from the Dewoin country as you did today.”
Before repairing to the kitchen, the landlady called me aside and said,“ Kai,” for so she called me,“ The palava reach you know. What shall we do for the girls to make you happy?”
I had a dollar bill in my pocket. I pulled it out and handed it to her.“ Here, can this help?”
“ O no Kai,” the landlady refused.“ Put your money in your pocket. Can ' t you see that you are my stranger son? Anything my husband and I can do to make the girls happy will be a pleasure to us.”
My landlord, who was also my employer, joined us in the kitchen. He immediately approved of everything the landlady had decided and suggested we leave all the details to her. We proceeded to the veranda where Tene and Kema awaited us.
“ Kai,” said my landlord,“ I don ' t know which one is Tene, but I must congratulate you for your fine taste, the girls are indeed beautiful.” The girls got up and shook hands with the landlord.
The smell of fried chicken and onions from the back of the house suggested that the landlady was busy preparing a special delicacy for our guests. Every now and then she would come on the veranda to see how we were coming along. When she observed that her husband had not offered the girls anything to drink, she inquired,“ Jaa, why have you not given the strangers some cold water?” My landlord at once asked to be excused. He headed towards the main road through the town where the shops were. When he returned, he was laden with bottles of cane juice, beer, soft drinks and some sweet biscuits. I surmised he had in mind giving a small party for the girls.
I knew that my landlord ' s generosity also had an ulterior motive. He was trying to entice me to remain in his employment. The few weeks I had been with him had convinced him that I was a hard worker. Someone he could depend on to keep his rubber farm going.
The landlord had several times proposed that I remain with him after my contract was over.
Just before the girls had come he offered me the daughter of a distant relative as a wife. The girl in question
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