I saw her one morning on our school compound. She was holding the hand of a little girl she was bringing to school. I looked at her critically. I said, “This one is my type.”  I was rushing to class when I saw her so I only fantasize about her and then moved on. Two days later, I saw her again in the school compound. She was holding the hand of that little girl. “Or the girl is her daughter? No, I don’t think so. She’s too young to have a kid.” I thought to myself. 

The next time I saw her, she was attending a PTA meeting for the girl. She came a little bit earlier and was looking for a place to sit and wait. I offered her a chair and asked, “Do you have a child here?” As if I hadn’t seen her around before. She answered, “Yeah I have a girl here but she’s the daughter of my elder sister.” I exhaled loudly. Knowing she wasn’t the mother of that kid got me relieved. I used the little time available to us to chat with her and got her number. Her name was Beatrice.

I called her in the evening. Early in the morning when I was leaving for school I called her and asked if she would bring the girl. She said, “Maybe the mother will bring her today but if she doesn’t, I will be the one to bring her.” I said, “Kindly look for me when you come around.” I didn’t see her that morning but when the school closed, she was the one who came for the child. That afternoon, I walked her to the roadside where she picked a taxi. 

It became a routine. When she came there in the morning, I left everything I was doing and saw her off. In the afternoon too the same until one evening, I called and proposed to her. She said, “Just this week I’ve had three proposals. You’re the fourth but I don’t think I’m ready to date now so I will tell you what I told all the others. I’m not ready but we can still be friends.” I didn’t give up on her. I wasn’t ready to let a woman who had everything I wanted in a woman to escape. I reminded her each day of my love for her until one day she said, “Ok, let’s give it a try and see how it goes.” 

The distance from “No” to “Let’s give it a try” was very long. It wasn’t the answer I wanted but it was better than “No” so I took it like that. 

We dated for three months and I didn’t know where she lived. She said her sister was very strict and would not entertain any visitor in their house. Getting her to visit me also became a mountain too far to climb. She said, “I will come when the time is right, just be patient.” The time was never right so she didn’t come. Three days to her birthday, she called and said, “My sister and her husband would be traveling so I can be with you on my birthday.” I asked, “You mean you will come and visit me?” She said, “Even if you want me to spend the night, I will. They’ll be away for the whole weekend.”

I started shopping for her birthday. A teacher’s salary isn’t much but it can buy a cake and champagne so I bought her just that.” She came on a Friday night. I sang her a happy birthday song and gave her the cake. We popped the champaign and the two of us had a mini birthday party. Just as she promised, she spent the night with me and it was the best thing to have ever happened to me. The next morning when she woke up and was leaving she said, “Is that all?” I asked, “How do you mean?” She said, “The birthday gift, is that all? No other gift I can keep in your memory apart from the cake and the champaign?” I said, “Better days are coming. I will give you gifts saaa, you’ll tell me to stop.”

From there, I didn’t see her often. I saw her only when she brought her sister’s daughter to school or when she was coming for her. Two months later, she called to tell me she would be coming around in the evening so I should prepare for her. She came, we talked for about an hour and she said she was leaving. I pulled my drawer, took some money, and gave it to her to pay for her fare. It was a Wednesday.

Thursday afternoon I was in class teaching when I started feeling dizzy. I sat for a while, thinking it was just tiredness. When I later got up, I nearly fell down. I couldn’t stand on my feet. I managed to walk slowly to the headmaster’s office to seek permission to go to the hospital. On my way, I bought some drugs and decided to go home and rest. When I entered the compound of the house I realized my door was slightly opened. I was like “Eiiish, I didn’t lock my door before going to school? What kind of mistake is that?”

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I pushed the door opened and guess what, Beatrice was inside there searching through my things. Immediately she saw me she jolted. She said, “Ahhh you scared me.” I asked, “What are you doing here? How did you get in?” I checked the door and saw the spare key in the lock. I asked, “Who gave you that key?” All of a sudden my dizziness was gone. She smiled and said, “Ain’t you surprised to see me? I came to surprise you.” I asked, “How? What’s the surprise in this?” She said, “I came to lay here on your bed and wait for you to return from school. That was the plan.” I looked at the time, it was around 11am. “School closes at 2pm but you’ll be here and wait till 2pm?” She said, “I was coming to watch a movie and wait for you.”

One of my bags on the floor was opened. You can see the bag had been searched. The drawer I took money from and gave it to her was also opened. The whole room had been dealt with in one way or another. I looked at her. She couldn’t look into my eyes. She wasn’t wearing a happy expression. I said, “I’m sick so I came home earlier. I want to rest so you go, we will talk.” She walked briskly out of the door and went away.”

I looked around to see if something was missing. Everything was intact apart from the fact that the room had been searched. “Is she a thief? What did she come here for? But how could she do that?” I called her phone to ask if she had gotten home. She didn’t pick my call. I called in the evening too and she didn’t pick. The next morning I thought I would see her when she brings her sister’s daughter to school but she didn’t come around. It took me five days of consistent calling before she picked and said, “I’ve been busy that’s why I haven’t been picking your calls.” 

I asked, “I still don’t understand why you were in my room the other day. Tell me the truth. What were you looking for?” She said, “It looks like you don’t trust me. You, it’s ok. Take yourself. I don’t even want the relationship again. I don’t like someone who doesn’t trust me.” Before I could say anything, she cut the line and never picked my calls again. I used a colleague’s line to call and she picked but immediately she realized it was me, she cut the line.

She came to steal from me and I caught her. All I wanted to hear from her was the reason for that action. Maybe she needed money for something. I was ready to help her but she wasn’t ready to talk about it and instead rushed out of my life. Sad.      

 –Sir Osei 

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