THE MASTER KEY- Chapter 6

TO ERR IS HUMAN…

Joshua Asogli was a native of a village in the Volta Region. He lived happily with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Asogli who were doing well as farmers.

Joshua was an intelligent, humble, respectful and kind boy.

Mr. Asogli had a very big contract and he had to move to the city with his family to work. Two months after the family relocated, Mrs. Asogli kicked the bucket from a strange illness.

The father and son were both very saddened by the demise of Mrs. Asogli but they forged ahead, each pursuing his dream. Joshua turned out to be the most brilliant boy in his school while Mr. Asogli also became a consultant expert in cash crops.

Two years after the death of Mrs. Asogli, Mr. Asogli married Auntie Jennifer and Joshua was happy since he had a new mother to take care of him.

Auntie Jennifer was indifferent towards Joshua but she tried her best to take care of him since Mr. Asogli was observing things like a mother hen. Soon she got pregnant and had twin girls.

When the girls were a year old, Mr. Asogli had a huge contract which he could not ignore because it was a big opportunity for his work although it meant that he had to leave his family and live in a different country for a while.

Joshua wasn’t happy about his father’s decision to leave and work in another country. He knew his father’s absence will affect him but his father managed to convince him and also asked him to take of his sisters as a big brother would do. With this responsibility, Joshua had no choice but to agree to his father’s request for he loved his twin sisters very much. He had learned how to change their diapers effortlessly.

Unfortunately, everything changed for Joshua as soon as his father left.

Auntie Jennifer started maltreating him. He did all the house chores and sometimes, Auntie Jennifer did not allow him to go to school in order to take care of his little sisters while she ran errands.

Anytime he had to take care of his sisters, he would feed and sing to them and when they slept, he would pick his books and study. When he went to school the following day, he was able to catch up with his mates, when it comes to academic work.

In spite of all that he was doing, Auntie Jennifer still did not develop love for Joshua so one day she asked him to leave the house without any provocation. At that time, mobile phones were not so common so Mr. Asogli could not call them. He always wrote letters and did not stay at a particular place for long so it was difficult for Joshua to know his father’s address and write to him.

Joshua was a luck boy because one of his teachers had pity on him and took him in so he could attend school. Besides, Joshua’s father had paid all his school fees in advance so what the teacher had to do was just to provide food, shelter and a few necessities.

Mr. Asogli should have returned home after two years but he got caught up in a war in the country he resided so it took him five years to come back.

When he returned, his twin girls were already six years old and he was happy to see them again. Joshua, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found.

When he asked about his son’s whereabouts, Auntie Jennifer told him Joshua became a bad boy and ran away from home. Mr. Asogli found it hard to believe but there was nothing he could do. He started looking for Joshua. There was no place Mr. Asogli didn’t go but he didn’t find his son.

At that time, Joshua was in secondary school and the teacher who was looking after him had become a headmaster and had moved from Accra to Koforidua in the Eastern region.

As fate will have it, Mr. Asogli went to the Eastern region to attend a meeting. While he was at a traffic light around Koforidua Technical University, waiting for the lights to turn green, a young boy walked up to him and called him: Daddy, when did you return?

Immediately Mr. Asogli saw Joshua, he became emotional and asked him to sit in the car. On the way to where Mr. Asogli was to attend the meeting, Joshua narrated everything to his father who was so regretful and disappointed in his wife.

Later in the day, Mr. Asogli visited Joshua’s teacher who was taking care of him. Mr. Asogli could not thank the teacher enough. Afterwards, arrangements were made for Joshua to go back home with his father and return to Koforidua when schools reopened.

As soon as Auntie Jennifer saw Joshua and his father in the house, she knelt down and begged for forgiveness but Mr. Asogli asked her to pack her things and live the house without the twins. Joshua was happy to be reunited with his twin sisters and they were able to make him out when they saw him even though several years had passed. Joshua knew that the twins needed their mother and his father asking Auntie Jennifer to go would mean the twins will miss their mother.

Joshua, however, begged his father to temper justice with mercy. He pleaded vehemently with his father to forgive his stepmother.

After pleading persistently, Mr. Asogli finally brought Auntie Jennifer home beck to the house and the family of five lived happily ever after.