Stranger in his Homeland

Chapter Sixteen

125 Chapter Sixteen Antony mentioned his father’s illness and the plans he had for evacuating him for treatment abroad to Eru and his aunt. Eru told him it was impracticable, given his poor financial position. His aunt told him it was unnecessary because the man had long been counted out among the living. He deposited his application for employment in August. By February the following year, he had not yet been employed. During that time, very much had happened that was to have a profound effect on his life. There was first the problem of joblessness. He was no idler. It was during this period of proud isolation that his long cherished ambition of being a writer began to materialise. He had enough material for his writings to occupy him for many years. But he could not spend his whole life writing. Besides, he needed money. He lived practically alone in a tiny ill-lit room in his aunt’s house. Nobody visited him and he too never felt the urge to visit anybody except his aunt, once in a while. By this time, he had become a member of Pa Godsabi’s family. Beckongncho dropped by once in a long while. On one occasion, he gave Antony I0,000 francs to help him buy a few personal needs. He had to persuade Antony to take because he would not. Beckongncho knew he had no money, but he thought it condescending to accept a dash. When he finally took the money, he called it a loan. Nchindia came more often than Beckongncho but since he would not talk on anything serious Antony advised him to forget about him and take care of his business in Sowa. The only other person who visited him was Eru. He called whenever he had time. After the emergency meeting in which Anuse had so openly denounced Antony, nobody was anxious to risk his job by persisting on any friendship with him. Anuse did not stop there. The day after the meeting, Bitong and himself drafted a letter 126 Linus T. Asong to Chief Fuo-Ndee. In it, as though voicing the honest personal opinions of the tribesmen in Likume, they condemned Antony’s conduct. The described him an utter failure of all the hopes of the tribe, a disgrace to the royal line, and an insult to human nature itself. Knowing Antony’s chances of becoming the next Chief, Anuse wanted to put his name out of his father’s favour. Anybody who had dared to confront and disgrace him in public did not deserve to wear the crown of the tribe. He took the letter home himself and read and interpreted it to the Chief. Only two things saved Antony’s reputation – the Chief’s love for him and the latter’s lack of trust in Anuse. These two factors were strengthened by the intervention of Pa Godsabi who was the Chief’s play-mate from youth. According to Eru, these did not matter, and he did much to convince Antony to ignore them. At certain moments, he felt like telling Eru off. But one thing held them together – Antony’s declining finances. He had returned home with more than 200,000 francs in the bank. As a student on an INTERAF scholarship, he was paid in American dollars. They then went to Lomé and converted it in the black market into the Ghanaian Cedis, at the rate of I0 Cedis per dollar. He therefore earned just as much as his lecturers who were paid 200 Cedis. He saved very much during the last two years. From what he had brought into the country, he had sent 50,000 francs to his father at home when it became unnecessary to evacuate him. He had also spent over 50.000 francs on the renovation of his aunt’s house. It was only when he had just about 75.000 francs left and no job in sight yet, that he began to economize. That was too late. Eru saw that he needed money, and so gave it to him as often as he took bribes in the market. At first, Antony was ashamed to accept the offer. But when he saw that he would starve, he condescended. He began by calling the money a loan, and even tried to keep records of every franc that Eru gave him. But within a month, it had almost swollen to 25.000 francs. In the end, he...