Money Trees
When Ajei was young, every story he read went as follows: once upon a time, a long long time ago, there lived a trickster by the name of Kwaku Ananse. Ananse had eight long skinny legs, an awful small head, and a protruding abdomen. Ananse, as they say, fooled some of the people some of the time but not all of the people all of the time. Even in the case where he fooled all of man, he was outsmarted by his own nature. In the end, while Kwaku Ananse faced the repercussions of his malfeasance, there was always another Ananse story to be told. Ajei is like Ananse. Here is his story.
In 2005, Ajei had received his greencard in a white nondescript envelope. After ten years of living in Atlanta and using an unknown kinsman's state ID to work at Hartsfield Jackson International Airport, he could finally fly to the place from where those eager Ghanaians whose checkered Ghana must go bags he unloaded, came. They too came to pick the money tree. But Ajei had long picked and just longed to go home. With a mere paper card, he was no longer a prisoner to this state. He would wear his red Pepe jeans and matching red shirt on the flight, his mp3 player interchanging between Obrafuo and Jay Z. Upon his arrival, his cousins would call him Boss.
Ajei had made good money in America. He was paid $14 an hour as a cargo agent. Taking care of only himself, his life in America lacked eloquence, and for good reason. The greater portion of what he made was saved after he paid his expenses back home. And there was that odd job he did with Nana which I won't detail. Well, except that Nana was deported about six years ago when he was caught on camera stealing letters containing people's financial information.
In fact, having disgraced his family, Nana had to live with Ajei's wife, Abena, at their home in Tema when he was flown back to Ghana. The story is that Ajei married Abena at the tender age of 22. Within weeks of their marriage, Ajei left Ghana with his aunt's invitation letter in hand. No one expected him to return home at the expiration of his stay and he didn't. He sent money to build his wife a home in Tema. He took good care of his wife. She was beautiful, brown, brilliant, and thin.
Here is where the story gets good! Ajei was a fairly nice man who insists, even now, that he still loves Abena. After he started making some money, he told her to quit her job as a nursery school teacher. He did not want her to work and provided her with everything she needed. But Ajei is the kind of man that will always buy you what you want but will never give you the money to buy it yourself. He also refused to tell his wife how much he made or how he made his money. When she would ask him, "how much do we have in our account, honey?", Ajei would joke, "I have 140 cedis". She would pry, "140 thousand cedis, baby?" and he would laugh and say, "but Abena, it is my money. I alone worked for it".
Meanwhile, having lived in Ajei's house for the past four years, Nana had fallen madly in love with Abena. Both he and her were frustrated that they had to depend on Ajei for sustenance. Although Nana had benefited considerably from their theft scheme, more so than Ajei, everything he had was confiscated by the State and he depended on Ajei to start his life anew (the details you have been waiting for). The two men agreed that this was the very least Ajei owed Nana since Nana said nothing of Ajei's involvement during the bust. Ajei had promised Nana a place to stay when he was deported and went so far as to promise his friend money to start a business. But Ajei's seed money was slow to come. While Ajei gave Nana enough to eat and bought him clothes and other accessories, he found it nearly impossible to give him hard cash.
Ajei had reasoned, he who brings termite-infested wood to the house should not be surprised when many fowls visit him.
Soon enough, however, Abena and Nana joined forces. Abena had fallen in love with Nana's decision to make her the mastermind of his affairs. They schemed. Abena stole Ajei's checkbook and gave the information on it to Nana. They waited until Ajei left for the U.S. of A and on that same day, Nana ran the routine with the help of a friend, much like he and Ajei did back in Atlanta. Immediately upon Ajei's return to the States, eager to begin filling for his wife to join him in the States, he discovered that his savings was wiped clean. His checking account had a mere $75, the equivalent of 140 Ghana cedis. He knew that this was Abena's touch, she is brilliant woman.
I have personally advised Ajei not to worry because at the very least, he is in the land of opportunity. He has to sow anew and he will soon reap. Although he did it to many other people, I am hindsight, not judgement. I am picking anew.
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