BE BRAVE SWEET SISTER Ep01: CAGED BIRDS

Hi there Charley! I've missed you guys so much... Posting hasn't been consistent lately.
I apologize๐Ÿ˜Š. Between reading and studying to get better and my teaching practice, time always seems to decide against me. But it always gives me joy,like the kind I'm feeling right now , when I write for you ๐Ÿ˜.....So,  how here's a little something I have cooked up just for you...Enjoy!๐Ÿ˜‰๐Ÿ˜˜



It is a quiet morning _an enchantingly quiet morning. Which is a good thing really _anything is a good thing for her these days as long as it doesn't trigger her PTSD. She is a female, mid-twenties, beautiful face and has a super debilitating body that would entice  the most pious eunuch to look twice.  Of course one isn't born with such a body. No...no.... no... such bodies are built through rigorous training and vibrant daily exercise, which is what she underwent when she was enlisted in the US Army.

You see, her name is Afua Gansah and she is every bit a Ghanaian as you or I.( Seriously, like her favourite meal is fried yams and atom. )
During her university days, when one of their colleagues had stood outside canvassing for people to try their luck with the free American lottery, she had obliged and had signed up.

She had no idea the plans destiny had for her. She won the lottery out of the gazillion students who 'tried their luck' in the lottery.
She remembers vividly how she and her family had screamed for joy when the American Embassy called to say she had won.  Her sister, Owusuaa, was in SHS 2 then. Owusuaa,  the very picture of innocence; so sweet_so naive_so... (somebody knocks at the door). She goes to open it.
It's her mother.

"Good morning my child, " her mother greets her with cheer and enters without been invited in.  She doesn't need to be invited in. She has an eternal permit to enter any room of hers. She is her mother after all.
"Good morning, mama, " Afua replies devoid of emotion.
[ "Did you sleep well? "] [ "Did you sleep well"] they both ask each as if they'd rehearsed it the day before.

 Recognizing their clumsiness,  they both smile weakly and sit _child looking through the window at butterflies and mother staring at child. It becomes quiet again,  so enchantingly quiet. Afua likes it just like that. Her mind warps back to the States and her days there.  She was offered an enlistment in the US Army when she got there. Six months later, she had completed her training.

 She had her first Iraq tour in '08' and her second one in 2011.
In 2014, she was deployed to Mosul in Iraq  to help intervene in the activities of the jihadist, 'Islamic State Of Iraq and the Levant '(ISIL)  militants. On one of her missions there, their convoy got ambushed by the militants and she and her squad came under heavy fire.

They all received fatal gunshot wounds and all but her died. Her mother said it was an act of grace, but something she saw over there in Iraq wiped her belief in God. Those same men who wielded AK 47's or Kalishnikovs and shot mothers dead when they prevented them from prying their young boys away to be trained as extremists were also the same men who laid down their weapons near their mats as they piously prayed the Asr.

Her father busted into her room presently _panting from climbing the flight of steps that led to her room upstairs.
"Asieduaa, I've called your name almost six times from downstairs, " Paapa complained. (His real name is Jonathan Gansah but everyone calls him Paapa.)

"We are going to see Owusuaa today and you guys haven't even begun to get ready yet....you know how those people are!... Let's go! _let's go! " Paapa commanded while clapping his hands.
["Okay... Okay... We're coming ",] mother and daughter responded in tandem again as they both hurried to their individual bathrooms to prepare for the trip.
An hour later, they were all ready, cooped up in Paapa's Pajero and enroute to Nsawam.

The drive to Nsawam is a quiet one. Everyone is lost in their own thoughts.
"Good day Sir, " her father greeted the guard at the gate.
"Good day to you too Sir," the officer replied. "Purpose of visit?" he added without taking his eyes from the paper clipboard he had in his hand.
"We're here to see an inmate, " Paapa responded.
"Inmate number? "
" NS8975W "
"Hmmmmmm... Hmmmm.... I don't see it here, " the guard stuttered after checking his list.

"How would these help? " Paapa whispered as he extended his arm through the car's window towards the guard, clutching two fifty cedi notes.
"Oh... Yes... Yes!.... Inmate NS8975W ?...oh yes... She's just right here... Park your vehicle over there and wait in the yard.  I'll have them bring her up," the guard mumbled after slyly pocketing the bribe.
The Ghansahs went and waited in the yard as they had been directed.

"You didn't have to bribe him, " Afua stated matter-of-factly.
"Yes... I know I didn't have to... I'm a father and I don't have to come visit my little girl in prison either but here I am...this is Ghana my dear... We are even lucky one hundred cedis is what the guard's rate is, " Paapa offered as an explanation  as they waited.
Shortly after, two guards brought inmate NS8975W: Owusuaa Gansah, 22 years , awaiting trial for first degree murder in two days; daughter, and sister of Afua.
Her mother started to cry once she saw the bruises and lacerations on her baby's beautiful face and hands.

"What happened to you? " Paapa accosted with fire in his eyes after the guards had sat her down.
"Oh my God... look at what they've done to my baby! " her mother cried some more.
But Afua could neither utter a word or shed any tears whatsoever.

"This is not the time for tears, " she shaked the thought away. So, sister stared at sister as the tragic events that had taken place the past two months started to unfold like a horror film in their minds.... (to be continued)

Owusu F. Michael ©

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