– Enoch Ato Nyamson
Dickson wanted Martina to help him do his assignment before the next day which was meant for submission, but she rudely refused to help him. “Since I can seek help from my friends who are done with the assignment, why should I stay here for Martina to crow over me? After all, I’m sedate than her”, he told himself. Dickson quickly went to Lydia Frimpong, his course mate, to take her assignment to see how she managed to do it. Unfortunately for him, she had gone to the library to study.
Dickson, however, went back to his hostel to have a nap instead of going to the library to check on Lydia. Around 3:00pm, Aunty Nurse, Dickson’s grandmother, paid him a surprise visit at his hotel which was a usual habit of Aunty Nurse. Dickson was so excited to see his grandmother since he was described as “grandma’s hand bag” during his child hood.
Grandma prepared his favorite Fanti chow. Its aroma travelled throughout the entire hostel and you can imagine how palatable the food was at that time of the day. Dickson enjoyed every morsel of the food which majestically danced down his throat into his empty stomach. They had a grandma and son chat for about three good hours. Their dialogue centered on how Dickson could get a nice lady to marry before grandma joined the heavenly choir.
Dickson really liked the idea of getting a nice lady but hated the fact that the lady may deceive him just like one of his friends was dumped by a common girl l. Martina, later, entered Dickson’s room to collect some foodstuffs to prepare breakfast before grandma left for her hometown. His grandmother was fast asleep which gave him the chance to go to the supermarket near his hostel to get some foodstuffs for his grandmother to take to the village. Dickson rushed out to buy the items and was really excited to return on time. Grandma expressed her appreciation to his grandson. Dickson then and escorted her to the lorry station. Dickson was so affected emotionally by the words of his grandma which kept on ringing in his head like a church bell. This compelled him to ask Martina’s view on the issue of getting a lady which dangled between his fears and his grandma’s wish. Martina was a maharishi in Dickson’s life since he listened and nodded to every word that came out of her golden lips.
One sunny Tuesday, Dickson received a letter that confirmed his selection to represent the school in a debate competition. Dickson had a sleepless night. He woke up to urinate about three times incessantly and even tried to research for the debate. In fact, his brain played too many horrible tunes for him to focus. The next day as he walked around his hotel to get a place to read through one of his pamphlets to raise points for the debate, he encountered Evans who was really known as the “bright boy of the college” also studying towards the debate ahead of them. Dickson being the principle speaker became more scared because he had not prepared as much as others expected of him.
Finally, the debate event took off and Dickson who was the main speaker and his supporting speaker, Evans, were called upon to prove their worth. This was an international debate which was monitored by almost all persons in the world. Hope was lost in Dickson but he encouraged himself when he felt his body shaking out of fear and panic.
Dickson immediately took the microphone and eloquently and cogently defended his stance on the motion. The room was charged with smiles and nods of approval after his delivery.
Dickson was overwhelmed by how the audience reacted. Suddenly, Dickson spotted a ravishing in the audience. In a twinkling, he saw the heavens open and saw the girl dancing gracefully with the angels. He couldn’t tell whether he was just dreaming or taking a nap in magic city. “This is the real deal”, he whispered to himself. Dickson couldn’t tell how he went back to take his seat. He was no more interested in winning the debate. His trophy, without a doubt, was this mystery girl. When the event came to an end, he went to talk to the lady, they exchanged contacts and bid each other goodbye with a hug on. Of course, his outstanding delivery had made
The soil fertile for the planting of a dialogue. Dickson had fallen in love with this lady in the squeezing of a lemon. He sat on his bed smiling like someone who just won the lottery. He was just admiring the beautiful details in the portrait of this black Mon Lisa in his mind. This threw him into the state of ecstasy at that moment. He tried to control his emotions which helped him to have a good rest. The next day, he decided to go and look for the lady so that he may talk to her for a while and also use that chance to propose to her for. This would be his first time of proposing to a lady. He went ahead to work on his agenda for the day which he was really serious about. Meanwhile, Martina who already knew the lady had advised Dickson about the attitude of the lady when he made his intentions known to her. She even went further to say the lady did not deserve
Such a gentle boy like him but every word that came out of her mouth fell on deaf ears. Dickson deliberately ignored her because
he thought Martina was jealous about his decision to build his world around the lady .He put on his Romeo’s shoes and went ahead to visit his supposed Juliet in her hostel. They had a good time and of course, he had an endless jubilation when he finally scored the penalty of proposal. He had entertained fears of kicking over the bar, but, here he was, the happiest young man alive.
For about three weeks, Dickson ceased talking to Martina simply because he saw her as the devil in his relationship with Diana whom he loved and cherished with his entire being. Unknown to
Dickson, Diana was seriously in a relationship with another guy.
In her mind, she had assigned Dickson the duty of maintaining her public appearance. She demanded something new almost every time they talked. In fact, it became so suffocating and uncomfortable but he kept quiet because he was afraid of losing her. This cross became heavier as he got closer to the destination of his crucifixion, not to save, but to die like a rat in someone’s well-furnished kitchen.
One afternoon, went to see Diana in her hostel and to his surprise, Diana was comfortably lying in bed with her other guy. Dickson had the worst moment of his life and shed tears silently on his bed and never disclosed the news to anyone, not even his childhood friend, Martina. As the days went by, Martina was feeling suspicious about Dickson’s relationship but wouldn’t dare to breathe about it for obvious reasons. So she kept all her thoughts to herself till he let the cat out of the bag which created an atmosphere for her to scold him for being too stubborn to listen to her. Dickson kept his distance from Diana and finally broke up with her on a hot sunny afternoon, right after lectures. He boldly agreed with, his heart that breaking up was the best option if he wanted to still keep his body and soul together.
“Now, I can feel good in life, no more unnecessary spending on silly people who don’t have any aim in their lives”, he concluded in a soliloquy. He gathered his little courage to talk to Martina, so he intentionally went to knock on her door and ran back to his room but Martina knew that Dickson would be the same person to play that game. Intentionally, she decided not to give pay attention to him because of how he treated her when he started a relationship with Diana. Dickson boldly opened up to Martina but she begun to mock him and she said to him, “it is only the stubborn housefly that follows the corpse into the grave.” Dickson apologized for his bad conduct which he blamed the devil for. Martina honestly told him all what he needed to know before it was too late. Dickson was happy to reconcile with his kind childhood friend, hostel. It was a remarkable day for these two old friends. Martina made a promise never to ignore him till she got married. Dickson felt secured now which compelled him to give Martina a warm 25 minutes hug.
The four year course finally ended successfully for both Dickson and Martina. They came out with flying colors which made them so happy and proud. Both families threw parties to welcome their children to the comfort of their respective homes.
When Martina was ready for marriage, many great men showed interest in her. One Dr. Ofosu who was also a graduate from the School of Medical Studies in Spain fell in love with Martina when they met at the hospital where she was going for checkup.
The Ofosu family went to seek for Martina’s hand in marriage for their son which Martina was eagerly waiting to witness. The family decided on the date for their wedding but before that Martina was called before the entire family to hear from her own mouth whether she wanted to get married to him. Martina willingly accepted his marriage proposal. Meanwhile, Dickson was also working with a company as their administrator in Germany. Martina out of joy phoned Dickson to inform him about her upcoming wedding with her husband to be.
Dickson had mixed feelings but at the same time he was happy to learn that he was going to be their best man on that special day.
To Be Continued…