Changes by Ama Ata Aidoo Page A

up in a society that had no patience with a woman who did not work. Her husband’s wealth or ability to support her was a matter of only mild importance — just something that could make life easier.
    â€˜But, Fusena, teaching is out of the question,’ Ali would insist during the regular discussions they had on the issue. ‘There should be a more lucrative job you could do and still have time to look after the children.’ He bought her a massive kiosk at a strategic site in Accra. They said of it that what Fusena’s kiosk did not sell was not available anywhere in the country. And when she heard they were saying that she made more money from the kiosk than the largest supermarket in town, she only smiled to herself.
    And now here was Ali telling her that he was thinking of making a woman with a university degree his second wife. So Allah, what was she supposed to say? What was she expected to do?

        8
    When Ogyaanowa went to stay with her grandmother at the beginning of the long vacation, the understanding had been that she would return home to Esi and Oko for the re-opening of school. However, as the marriage began to fall apart, Oko’s mother had become just a little nasty about everything. It had seemed to Esi that the older woman was getting ready to use the child as some sort of a weapon to fight her with, and she had secretly sworn not to let that happen. So one day, and much to her mother-in-law’s surprise, she had suggested to her that Ogyaanowa could stay on. ‘The bungalow gets too lonely for her. Here, there would be other children for her to play with. Nearly all her cousins …’
    â€˜Please, don’t call them her cousins,’ her mother-in-law had reprimanded.
    â€˜But … but Maa,’ Esi had virtually stammered, ‘aren’t they her cousins?’
    â€˜You know that in our custom, there is nothing like that. Oko’s sisters’ children are Ogyaanowa’s sisters and brothers. Are we Europeans that we would want to show divisions among kin?’
    Esi had felt completely ashamed. She suspected the older woman was seizing on the issue to put her in her place.
    So Ogyaanowa had continued to stay at her grandmother’s and get completely spoilt. And it was true, there were lots of other people nearer her own age for her to play with. Esi didn’t want to admit that the arrangement suited all parties concerned. But it did. Just like any mother, she found it difficult to accept that her child could be happy in any environment other than the one she had created. However, the truth of the matter was that if Ogyaanowa had been still at the bungalow, she would have felt at least a little funny bringing in Ali so soon after virtually throwing Oko out.
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  Guilt is born in the same hour with pleasure,
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  like anything in this universe and its enemy.
    Just as earthquakes and floods become landmarks in the history of nations, the morning when Oko jumped on Esi became a landmark in their relationship: referred to thereafter by both of them as ‘That Morning’. Well, ‘That Morning’ had been the first day of thesecondary school holidays which was why he was able to linger in bed.
    It was now about a year since Esi and Opokuya had met at the lobby of the Hotel Twentieth Century, and nearly fourteen months since That Morning. Oko blamed himself for overstaying in bed. He could not stop thinking that perhaps if he had got himself up at his usual early hour he would later have found a better way to show his determination to give their relationship another chance. It was always possible that some alternative existed which would have been more acceptable to Esi, rather than the one he had chosen which had had such unfortunate repercussions.
    Anyway, from That Morning, he had spent a good deal