LETTERS TO OKONNORE YAA 1

Dearest Okonnore Yaa,

My sunshine that pierces the gloomy dawn to reveal the promising day, I miss you. I am seated under the great palms at the entrance to Mmoadomakrom, enjoying the healthy breeze and using one of the foaming gourds you left in the kitchen hut. Ntikuma, our eldest son, has gone to visit nana Aberewa and get me some herbs for my chronic cough. He is due to return later in the week.

Tikenenkene, Efudohwedohwe and Nnankohwea have gone to the farm, and Aso, our elegant little princess is preparing the evening meal. I am really proud of our children, and they really remind me of all the troubles we went through to have each one of them. I was reminiscing what a good wife you have been to me all these years. I know that thoughts of me nourish your dainty limbs with enough strength and speed, to finish your business and return home.

Aso maame, you will be pleased when you return to see the new fence I’ve built. The boys helped me to carry some bamboo home, after we planted our cassava and completed the yam mounds. This one is too high to be scaled by the stubborn goats that would steal in and nibble some yams. Yaa, I also fixed the kitchen’s leaky roof. I got new thatch to replace the old ones, and it has given the kitchen a new look. I trust it will affect your cooking. I wish there was anything more I could do for you; my dear, you ask too little of a hardworking husband. Anything within my power is not too much for you to ask, even if it means facing Mpotimpoti all over again.

I have been having this dream for three nights now. It has made me realize what a beauty our little princess Aso has blossomed into. Okonnore my wife, our daughter is ripe. In my dream, I keep seeing our princess being married off to a handsome and wealthy young prince from a far away kingdom. I pray that our eyes will see that day, before we grow and lose our last grey hairs. By the way, do you know what the materialisation of this dream holds? More money, a mansion and plantations that truly befit a man of my status, beautiful cloths and jewellery for you my dear wife, and a comfortable life for the rest of our children, before they also get married. I will visit Akyekyedee the old wise tortoise, to sap some counsel; my princess must surely marry a prince. Or what do you think?

I want to add another one to my titles. They call me Kwaku Ananse the trickster; they know Ananse the owner of stories. They hail me Ananse Kokroko, but I want to be known as and called Honourable Ananse Kokroko, the owner of stories told, being told and yet to be told. I want to contest for a seat in the prestigious General Council of Animals; I will be the Chief Spokesperson of the whole Animal Kingdom. We will discuss that one further, when you return. I really need to start strategizing my campaign, and so I need your invaluable counsel which has proven helpful throughout all the years and has helped me to climb to this height. My Image Building Project (IBP) which I started so many years ago has proven successful so far, and so winning that seat shouldn’t be much of a problem.

(Yawn and stretch) Haaauuummm! Dearest Okonnore Yaa my wife, woman with natural endowments in apt proportions, I am indeed a blessed man. When you receive this letter, hurry home before the rains come. Right now, the sun is packing his wares, after a fruitful day, and my sight is beginning to dim. I can already smell my evening meal – like mother, like daughter. Please do well to remember my new pipe and ahenema. I love you and miss you like the details I couldn’t share.

Your heartbeat,

Romantic Ananse®