Bitter Honey is a Ghana-based series, centered around the Quartey family. Kojo Quartey; a taxi driver, his wife Aba; who runs a bank’s canteen, and their three children; Kuku, Abena and Maama live through a series of fortunate and unfortunate events. The Bitter Honey series tells the story of different bittersweet experiences that build their characters and teach them life lessons. Enjoy.
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Aunty Aba woke her children up with the cock’s crow. She was excited about that Monday morning.
She knew it would be a good day.
She slapped Abena’s legs playfully until she stirred, “Mommy, why?”
“We need water for the week. You three should go and fetch some.”
Abena yawned, “But Ma, the lady said we shouldn’t come again,”
Kuuku helped his sister to her feet, “Abena it’s ok, we’ll beg her. Or we’ll find some.”
She could tell that Kuuku had also been hit with a wave of optimism and she like it.
Maama, picked up her broom and started sweeping the compound; the car park.
The swish of Abena’s broom reminded Aunty Aba of the days when she lived with a maid.
Life was good then. She had parents who had enough money to get by. She had access to food whenever she felt hunger pangs, everyday.
But that was barely a memory now.
She had just finished setting up her kooko stand, when she heard a long screech headed in her direction. Yells of warning shot out from different directions even before the cars made impact.
In a split second, there was an accident scene just a stone throw away from where Aunty Aba sets up her kooko stand.
Hawkers, pedestrians and even commercial vehicle drivers gathered round the rumpled remnants of the cars, throwing around suggestions and offering help.
Luckily, there was a police barrier located nearby, and the police were taking over the scene.
Aunty Aba called out for customers, hoping that bystanders would invite the idea of drinking porridge while they watched the police instill order.
The police managed to redirect the stagnant cars and get the route cleared of the collided vehicles.
Eventually, the passengers involved in the accident were given medical attention, and the traffic on the road eased up.
Aunty Aba was pleased that she had managed to serve her last customer only 45minutes after the accident had occurred.
She wished that she had prepared more Kooko for this unpleasant, yet fortunate (for her,) incident.
She was excited about how the morning’s events had played out and couldn’t wait to share it with Kojo and the children.
Kojo. She felt a wave of sadness wash over her.
He hadn’t come home last night and she had been too busy serving Kooko to notice whether or not he had returned.
“Is the kooko finished?” The man with the nice voice was back again.
Aunty Aba smiled, “Yes, oo. Sorry. Because of the accident, plenty people came to buy.”
He gave her a wistful look.
Then he said, “Do you enjoy doing this?”
Aunty Aba didn’t know how to answer the question. “This is all that I can do to get enough to provide for my children.”
“What about your husband?”
“He’s not been able to find a job. But we are hopeful.” Aunty Aba surprised herself. She was hopeful.
“Would you like to work in bank?”
“Ei,” was all she could say. “I didn’t finish school,” she thought aloud. Then she said, “All I know how to do is to cook”
He handed her his card, “Come and see me, we could work something out.”
She looked at the card and said, “Thankyou.”
The card read: Mr. David K. Amoah.
She read out his name, “Mister David K. Amoah,”
She smiled.
She was hopeful.
***to be continued***
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