Childless episode 9

CHILDLESS
Episode 9
 
 
PRESENT
 
 
Many people are crying now.
 
 
Kwabena Dompreh scre-ms, and tears fall down his cheeks in torrents.
 
 
KWABENA
 
 
(heart shattered)
 
 
Oh, no, no, no! Tell me it’s a lie!! I went to the United Kingdom! When I came back to Ghana I couldn’t find her, or anybody who remembered her! I thought she went back to her mother!! Oh, no! Oh, Jesus! Dede, Dede!! I have sinned!! Oh, what have I done?
 
 
And, for the very first time since his wife died, tears form in Tutu’s eyes, and trickle down his cheeks.
 
 
 
 
TUTU DOMPREH
 
 
(hoarsely)
 
 
Goodness me! Don’t tell me she died that day, just like that! Oh, no! Tell me she didn’t die!! Tell me I didn’t kill that poor girl! Oh, dearest me! What did I do?
 
 
Akua takes a huge shuddering breath as her tears fall down her cheeks, and at that particular moment all the love she feels for Kwabena evaporates.
 
 
She looks at him and his father.
 
 
Such heartless monsters!
 
 
She can’t believe they had been capable of such a terrible atrocity!
 
 
Dazedly, she sees how agonized they are, and she is happy.
 
 
She wants to take the gun and shoot both of them, and she has nothing but revulsion in her heart for them.
 
 
 
THE STRANGER
 
 
(gently)
 
 
Well, I won’t tell you she didn’t die! She died! Your cruelty killed her, and her unborn child, a creation of God! She was the only child of her mother! Well, her friend Mintah went to her village to give them the bad news. A delegation was sent to Accra to bring Dede’s body to the village for burial. Her mother came too. That woman is a great Christian, I tell you, and she wasn’t about to stand by and let you bastards destroy her daughter just like that. She came to the mortuary, and she was the first to see her dead daughter on that cold slab. With tears of anguish drowning her, the poor woman put her right hand on her dead daughter’s heart and prayed…
 
 
FLASHBACK
 
 
MADAM BAJOE NAAR
 
 
(weeping)
 
 
My dearest Father above, my God and my Lord, you gave me only one daughter to gladden my heart in my old age, but here she lies, Father! Destroyed by the unfeeling hearts of men who walk in the paths of their own thinking! Father, today I stand on Your word which says whatever is bound here on earth is also bound in Heaven! I bind the loins of Kwabena Dompreh, that boy who did this to my daughter! May he never be able to give birth, and may his father never know the joys of being a grandfather, until they realize the folly of their ways for this evil they have done my daughter, Dede Ahiawey Naar!! This, dearest father, is the only wish of an agonized mother, prayed in the mighty name of Jesus Christ! AMEN!
 
 
PRESENT
 
 
The stranger gets to his feet and looks down at the faces of the wicked man and his son.
 
 
THE STRANGER
 
 
So, Mr. Tutu Dompreh, you evil man! Stop heckling Akua! She came to your evil son’s bed a V-rgin! There’s nothing wrong with her! She’s fertile and capable of being pregnant. It is your son, Kwabena, whose loins the Lord has locked because the mother of Dede prayed a fervent prayer, and the Lord granted her request because, the prayers of a righteous person availeth much, and whatever a righteous person binds here on Earth is also bound in Heaven!
 
 
He reached down for a chicken delicacy and popped it into his mouth, and munched with obvious relish.
 
 
 
 
THE STRANGER
 
 
Kwabena will never be able to give birth, with any woman, unless he goes to Madam Bajoe Naar and begs for forgiveness for the evil he did to Dede! And do you know something, you ugly bastards, I wish Akua will divorce your son, and I wish that by the time you get to Madam Bajoe she will be dead peacefully, so that you and your son WILL DIE WITHOUT HIM KNOWING THE JOYS OF BEING A FATHER, AND YOU KNOWING THE JOYS OF A GRANDFATHER!! You two are wicked, and do not deserve any form of happiness for the terrible way you treated that poor girl!
 
 
 
 
The stranger begins to hum a song as he gets down from the podium and begins to walk away.
 
 
Kwabena and his father are both weeping miserably.
 
 
Kuukua gets up and looks at Tutu with fury.
 
 
KUUKUA
 
 
Aaaah, Uncle! You did this to a poor girl? How would you have felt if somebody did that to your daughter? You should be ashamed of yourself!
 
 
She gets down quickly, followed by her husband.
 
 
The family’s Clan Head stands up and wags a finger at Tutu.
 
 
 
 
CLAN HEAD
 
 
You’ve shamed our family, Tutu, son of Tutu! The Elders shall hear of this! You’re a pig!
 
 
For once Tutu cannot utter a word.
 
 
He is shattered.
 
 
In ones and twos the guests get up and leave.
 
 
The guards who had touched the stranger and been zapped also get up finally on their feet and leave.
 
 
Only four people stay behind.
 
 
Kwabena and his father.
 
 
Akua and the stranger.
 
 
The stranger reaches Akua’s table and looks at her.
 
 
 
 
THE STRANGER
 
 
I wish you’ll divorce him and marry someone else. You’ll be pregnant the first day you make love to your new husband.