Childhood Tales: Living with Grandpa

I remember I had the opportunity to live with my maternal grandparents at age seven or so for a full academic year. My Dad was studying abroad and my Mum worked in Ada. I lived with my grandparents mainly because my parents wanted us to go to a good school. Around that time, two of my cousins also came to live with my grandparents and so we were five grandchildren living with them.
Vacations were spent with my Mum, Aunty or Uncle.

I recall how four of us (excluding the oldest of us all) could get into the shower and bath for hours till parts of the house got flooded. My granny who couldn't see at the time would only hear us screaming and singing in the bathroom.  After a while,  she would ask us to get out of the shower but we would ignore her and bath for hours till half of the place got flooded.

Usually it would be the househelp telling my Granny that the place was getting flooded but we would never step out till we were tired.  It would be the househelp's  duty to clean up the place after we were done.

There was this game that we all enjoyed playing. Since my granny couldn't see, we took delight in removing her stool from wherever she placed it so in the end she ended up falling on stones. Ho where we lived is noted as a stoney town and one of the things Grandma Lucy enjoyed was sitting outside in the mornings at the backyard. She always carried her own stool outside to sit down but as troublesome as we were, would pull the stool before she got seated making her fall down. We would end up bursting into laughter and then she would eventually realize that we had planned it. Of all the games in the world, all five of us enjoyed playing this particular one.

Grandma Lucy was noted for punishing people at dawn. She chose that period to beat you for something you did the previous day since you would run away. At dawn, you ended up enjoying your sleep forgetting about  your past deeds yet Grandma Lucy would beat you whilst you were sleeping and let you know why she was beating you.

So I don't recall exactly what I did wrong but then she promised to get me at dawn. Gifty and I being the oldest grandchildren at the time shared the same bed. I woke up in the middle of the night and swapped sleeping places with Gifty who was fast asleep.  My granny knew I slept at the other side of the bed by the wall. When she woke up, since Gifty and I  had the same hairstyle,  once she felt her hair she thought it was me. She started beating Gifty. Gifty woke up crying and asking: 'Grandma, why are you beating me? What did I do?' 'Oh Gifty, I'm sorry I thought it was Elikem.' By then I had jumped out of bed and left the room. I never allowed her to lay a finger on me.

I remember breakfast. We all took turns daily to prepare breakfast. By seven you had to be seated at the dining table at your rightful place. Grandpa knowing we were short had throw pillows on each chair so we could all access  the table. Once it was your turn to fix breakfast, you were in charge of making sure the househelp: Aunty Mansa (Of blessed memory, she was so lovely and patient) filled up the kettle and  grandpa was in charge of making the hot water. Once it was done, you made everyone a cup of milo and grandpa coffee. You were also in charge of the bread and making sure we all had our slices which grandpa made sure were really small so you could have  a slice cut into  about four pieces spread with margarine, chocolate spread or cheese. The fruits for the morning like orange had to be ready too. We all sat down and whoever was in charge for the day would say a prayer and we all ate in silence. No talking at Grandpa's table.

In the evenings when grandpa got back from work, he would take a long shower of about an hour minimum (Still can't tell why he took forever), then he would eat his dinner.  He made sure all of his grandchildren shared his meat or fish by  calling us beginning with the youngest, one after the other to feed us.

Grandpa had this wine fiat which we all took turns to sit in the passenger's seat by Grandpa. He drove us to school (my school was just a walking distance from where we lived, same vicinity: Mawuli Estates), the market: where we only stayed in the car awaiting Aunty Mansa. Mostly, he would drive us to the library in the mornings after breakfast during vacations and Saturdays where he registered us. Whether you liked it or not, you had to stay till midday and read a book. If you couldn't finish reading it, you ended up borrowing it to take home.(Guess that's where I fell in love with reading). My neighbours were our best friends as we went everywhere together though we went to different schools.

There's absolutely no way I can forget what happened after school one day. School had closed and I stood at the entrance waiting for Gifty so we could walk home together. She was three classes ahead of me. I stood unawares as a senior pushed me into the hedges and beat me up. She made sure she scratched my face with her fingers for a crime I can still not tell. I was helpless as I couldn't fight back (That day, I resolved never to fight anyone: I was a weakling. Afterall, my little brother could even beat me up how much less a stranger. Fighting was not made for me).Grandma made sure that girl was properly dealt with by sending my small Aunty to the school authorities.

I became friends with some girls who were two years ahead of me and lived on my street but farther away. One invited me to go to her house after school: so all three of us met at her house. Each time I went, they would leave me all by myself to go play in a tank whilst I watched tv. One afternoon I began to wonder why they always invited me yet left me out when they were playing. If I wasn't their age, why did they make me their friend, I really began to wonder. I got curious and followed them to the tank. I saw them doing something funny (Grandma probably knew and stopped me from going there once I told her: little girls playing gay).

There was a tree between my neighbours house and ours where all the kids (our immediate neighbours: our best friends and us) gathered not under but on the tree to talk. I had learned to climb it too but fell flat on my chest during one of our tree climbing expeditions. I never told anyone and we the children kept it a secret amongst ourselves till I had a prolong chest problem after the fall.

Weekends were fun (guess that's where I fell in love with travelling). Grandpa loved to travel and would take us with him wherever he went. We would stop over at places to eat or visit people he knew. Grandpa could chase us just to ensure we went to church even when he wasn't going to church himself.  Grandma and Grandpa attended different churches so mostly we went to grandma's church.
I recall birthday parties. Grandpa's Piano and  Christmas decorations.
Christmas, new year, easter and the new clothes, bags and shoes. I remember taking photos together as a family and the bond that existed.

Whilst my grandma had her own share of problems, grandpa had his too. I remember how my siblings and younger cousin would finish a tin of milo and pour sand into it only for grandpa to find out during breakfast.

I recall one vacation, school had vacated on a Wednesday and they had still not decided where we were going to spend the long vacation.  My cousin: Rejoice and I decided to join our neighbour who by then was in senior high school to push a wheel barrow. He had been carrying stones from a particular house to his house. We would sit in the wheel barrow  whilst he pushed us till we arrived at the place where the stones were. We would walk back with him and sit in the wheel barrow once he emptied it. He pushed it so fast that we had to jump out of it or else he poured us out like he did to the stones. I vividly recall a certain woman who had been passing by cautioned us but we ignored her. Then the unexpected happened. The guy did his usual pouring us out on the side where I was seated. I was not fast to jump out he ended up pouring me out and I could not get up again. My leg had turned in the opposite direction as I screamed out in pain. He had to carry me home. Grandma bathed me and decided to massage my leg. Our neighbour also came to massage it but the more they did, the more I cried as the pain was unbearable. My twisted leg wouldn't go back to normal too. Grandma gave me a pain reliever and I went to sleep since I couldn't walk.

When Grandpa got back from work, he decided I needed proper medical attention so he had the househelp pack our things. He made a quick call and told us we were going to Accra for vacation. Apparently we were too troublesome.  Two days into the vacation one of us had twisted her leg. He couldn't tell what else would happen if we had to stay for four to five weeks. We were sent to our parents on Saturday dawn. It ended up being my worst vacation ever as I couldn't walk for over a month and had my right leg in a cast.

#Childhood Memories
#Living with Grandpa (Spider man)

In memory of my maternal grandparents:  Lucy and Fritz Agra with fond memories of my childhood days.